Lasting Bonds
by FallenPride
Summary: [DV]Vala had gone missing and Daniel has been searching for her relentlessly. In the process of finding Vala, Daniel and SG1 encounter a new race, the Drakin, who have apparently managed to destroy a Prior.[AU][R&R!Rating changed for current chapter 15]
1. Chapter 1: Obsessions and Dreams

**Author's Note:** It's a Daniel/Vala pairing, or will be eventually. This story takes place after Beachead, I don't think that there are that many spoilers in it, but there might be. This story is also taking place in a "what if" capacity. There is not guarantee that my ideas will actually come to pass, but this is my thoughts in the "what if" game I have been playing with myself. This is my first Stargate: SG-1 Fanfit, so be gentle? Please? Or sugar coat the bad stuff. I don't mind constructive criticism, but flaming is unwelcome, by anyone really. When you review, you encourage me to write more.

**Disclaimer:** I do not in any way, shape, or form own any kind of rights to anything to do with Stargate: SG-1. The only thing in this story that is mine alone is the idea, kind of.

**Rating:** The rating is so high because of violence and possible sexual tones that might be perceived in the story. The rating might get even higher as the chapters come up depending on how the story develops.

_Engjoy!_

**

* * *

****Chapter One: Obsessions and Dreams**

The days, weeks, and months seemed to blend together. Dr. Daniel Jackson has his nose buried in a new report. His glasses were absently sliding down his nose as he read. Every report that came in now found a spot on Daniel's desk before it was shipped to archives. Daniel was obsessed; everyone could see this and no one knew what to do about it. It wasn't really self-destructive; he still managed to get all his work done and reports in on time. But every scrap of information coming back from off-world, from official reports to rumors spread by board nurse, found its way to Daniel to be gathered and analyzed and carefully gone over for any implication that there might be some news of Vala.

Daniel needed to know where she was, if she was alright or not. He could not bring himself to consider the very real possibility that Vala was dead. He would not believe it. Something inside of him, something that was still connected to Vala, told him she was not dead. But more than that, Daniel needed to believe it, because he felt responsible for what had happened. He hadn't listened to her, he'd forced her to develop something that resembled a conscience and had not bothered to hear her out when she tried to get through to him. Because of this, and reasons he was not yet ready to examine even internally and subconsciously, no news could even be whispered about without his eventual knowledge of it. He searched tirelessly, he had to.

He worked himself hard, keeping up with the usual work that he was expected to accomplish, and adding on to this with his search through the reports and physically working himself into a state of exhaustion. He could find no peace or rest in sleep otherwise. And sometimes, even this did not stop the dreams and nightmares from coming to him. Sometimes he would close his eyes and it would swear that she was lying right next to him in bed. He knew that she wasn't there, knew that he would wake up with an overwhelming sense of loss. His obsession had reached a point that Daniel actually longed to wake from one of these dreams to find Vala next to him, ready to make a pass at him.

But there were other dreams… nightmares really. He'd be helplessly watching Vala burning to death and he couldn't do anything to stop the fire. No one came to save her, and Daniel couldn't get close enough to pull her out of the hungry flames. He would wake in a cold sweat from these dreams, Vala's screams still echoing in his mind. He could almost feel the fire burning when he would wake up, his heart pounding against his ribs. Nothing could save him from these dreams, nothing but exhaustion and even then it did not always keep them away.

And so he searched, relentlessly.

* * *

The stack of reports had been growing steadily on the corner of Daniel's desk. Samantha Carter was the first to notice. She was leaning against the door jam to Daniel's office with two hot cups of coffee in her hands, watching Daniel. She'd been watching him for the last few minutes, actually. He hadn't flipped a page in the report; in fact he seemed to be off somewhere, lost in his own memories. His vacant blue eyes hadn't moved since she had arrived, and Daniel seemed completely unaware of her presence.

Sam had watched as Daniel seemed to loss heart in his search for Vala. She felt only slightly guilty over the other woman's disappearance, a small voice telling her that she had been part of the reason the woman was lost. But she had only known her briefly and could not really work up a good, solid case of guilt about the event. But she did feel guilty about being part of the reason that Daniel seemed to be bleeding away on the inside. That did bother her a great deal, and she didn't know how to fix the wound that Daniel refused to admit was there.

"Daniel?" she questioned carefully, not really wanting to jar him out of whatever memory he seemed to be reliving. Daniel had avoided her as much as was humanly possible to avoid someone with whom you worked with. She wasn't sure if it was his own need to isolate himself, or because he might blame her for Vala's disappearance. Whatever the reason, Daniel had cut himself off from everyone, but especially her. When he looked up to her she stepped into the room and handed him the cup of coffee she had picked up from the mess for him. "How you holding up?" she ventured.

Accepting the cup of coffee, Daniel took a sip of the still steaming liquid and answered in a clipped tone, "I'm fine, Sam." His attention drifted back to the report he was holding in his other hand, but he wasn't reading it. He was once more lost in thoughts. Sam wasn't sure she wanted to know what those thoughts were and decided she was better off not asking.

Instead she looked at the growing stack of reports and decided to be the friend he needed her to be at the moment. "Do you want some help getting through some of these?" she asked, offering the olive branch of peace, hoping that he would take it. His anti-social behavior of late was bothering her more than the small nagging guilt she felt about Vala. Daniel did not deserve to be hurt again, not by losing someone he apparently cared for, even if he could not admit it to himself. The verbal sparing that she had witnessed and heard stories about, attested to the fact that she was Daniel's match, and possible someone he actually might need in his life. Daniel needed someone to put him off balance and keep him like that.

Daniel once more looked up to Sam before he answered her. "Yeah," was his eventual reply. Sam let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding until then. Taking a seat across from Daniel she picked up a report off the top of the stack. It was almost two weeks old. She began to wonder how long Daniel had been 'reading' the one in his hand, but didn't have the heart to check the date.

She really did not want to know how close they were coming to losing him completely to this obsession no one could find a solution for. At least she did not want to know just yet, not when it was possible she might be able to at least get him back on the somewhat productive track his obsession had first taken shape in.

* * *

Daniel fell fully dressed into bed that night. His eyes felt like they might be bleeding and his brain felt like mush. Physically, his body was just one big ache. Absently he managed to toss his glasses onto the nightstand next to his bed before he was sucked under by sleep. He was fitfully dreaming in moments, not even having taken off his boots before dropping into his bed.

He was dreaming - he had to be dreaming. But it felt so real, so very real. He could feel her hands on his face, those soft hands with their calluses moving along his jaw. The light touch shock Daniel down to his center. It was so gentle, so tender, so much what he needed right then. He needed to feel her next to him. He needed to hear her voice. He wanted to hear her say that she was alight, that everything was going to be alright. But it would be a hollow comfort since it was only a dream. It wasn't real.

Closing his eyes, Daniel could feel Vala's hand on his jaw, so soft and callused all at once. It was such a light touch, so gentle and tender, that it shook him right to the center. She lied, she cheated, and she stole, and annoyed him beyond reason. But even her lightest touch could still make him want her. He wanted to turn his face into her hand, but didn't dare. Not even in these dreams could he just give in. But he wanted to.

Reaching out, Daniel pulled Vala closer to him. Wrapping his arms around her, he brought her lithe body against his, holding her closely. She wrapped herself around him, tucking her head under his chin. "Why did you never hold me before, Daniel?" she asked in a small voice.

Drawing in a deep breath Daniel didn't answer right away. He just wanted to hold her for the moment. He wanted so badly to believe that she was alright. "I don't know," he answered, holding her more tightly.

"Then why are you holding me now?"

Again, Daniel didn't answer right away. He didn't know why she was asking all these questions. Even subconsciously he did not want to analyze the reasons behind this new need. So why would a figment of his subconscious being asking the very questions that he did not want to answer? "Because I need to," he finally answered, leaving off his doubts and questions. "I need to know that you are alright."

"I am alright Daniel. But you have to keep looking like you were before." He felt her nails digging into his back, clutching him to her. "You've stopped looking for me Daniel. If you don't look for me like you were before then I won't be alright." This shocked Daniel. He tried to move back from her, but her hold on him prevented this, instead he lifted his hand to look down at her. Her grey eyes turned up to his when she added, "You'll find me tomorrow Daniel, if you just look hard enough."

Daniel frowned and tried again to pull away from her. She wouldn't let him go so Daniel stopped trying to move away from her. "What do you mean I'll find you tomorrow, Vala? You're just a part of my subconscious mind. You aren't real. None of this is real." Having said, almost out loud, that this was just a dream, Daniel's arms tightened around Vala's body.

"Then why are you holding me so tightly, Daniel?" She asked. She didn't try to loosen his hold on her, only moved in closer.

"Because I want this to be real," Daniel answered.

* * *

The room was warm and dark and filled with the exotic smoke of insents. In the center of the room was a large, sunk in, pit filled with many pillows and furs. A lithe body was laid across the blankets, curled up on her side as though she were holding onto someone not there. A soft sound came from the sleeping figure, a hand outstretched, before silence came back to the room.

But the silence was not complete. There was a soft sound of feet falling on the stone floor, bodies moving around the room, tending to the sleeper. A hand reached out to touch the sleeper's forehead and a soft light came to life in the room. It was emanating from a jewel like item on the forehead. The soft, bluish light caressed the sleepers face and the hand that was next to it, but little else.

"She dreams," a soft, sandy voice spoke into the quiet of the room. "She will bring her _kadra_ here to collect her soon."

The silence settled in again until another sandy voice spoke, "I hope her _kadra_ arrives before it is too late."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Read and Review... Reviews encourage me to continue writing. After all it means that someone is actually ready the stuff that my mind comes up with. That and your reviews will help me edits the other three chapters I already have written for this story. I think that all the characters might be a little OOC, but I am working on "getting into them" as I go on. Let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2: Distractions

**Author's Note:** Well, like I said before, I already have a number of chapters written up. This story was originally supposed to be just a bit of Daniel and Vala fluff, but it didn't end there when I was writing the story. I actually came up with an "adventure" of sorts to send the team out on. Thanks for the reviews, they were useful in the rewrite of this chapter. It isn't a very long one, but I've tried to fix the way I was writing some of the characters. They still feel a little OOC to me, which is just disturbing. So read, enjoy, and review!

**Disclaimer:** Again, nothing to do with Stargate: SG1 belongs to me, though I truly wish that it did.

* * *

**Chapter Two: Distractions**

_Coffee_, he wanted coffee. Trembling hands clutched a hot cup between them, bringing aromatic liquid up to his mouth. It burned his lips, burned his tongue, the top of his mouth and all the way down his throat and into his stomach. Blue eyes shut when the bitter taste registered in his brain, heaven was in that cup. Paradise was in the pot it had come from. He had woken up with the worst sense of loss yet. He felt jittery and…needy was the best word his foggy mind could think of, since aroused just did not cover it.

He was sitting at the debriefing table at an ungodly hour of the morning. He was fairly certain that the sun was still set, that dawn hadn't even come about when Sam had barged into his room to wake him up. He'd woken up shaking, feeling as though he'd just been ripped from a deep sleep. Actually, it felt worse than that. He wanted to go back to sleep. He'd been dreaming of Vala and this time he hadn't wanted to forget the dream. He wanted tog o back to it. He wanted the sense of peace he had found, finally, in his sleep.

But, _no, _he was now sitting in the briefing room; trying to wake up wile they waited for General Landry to arrive to begin the briefing. Whatever it had been, had better have been important. He didn't have enough coffee in his system to make the wake up call even worth it at the moment. His eyes were burning behind his closed eye lids; he hadn't even had a chance to brush his teeth he was dragged so quickly out of bed.

General Landry walked into the room; another man was following behind him. Taking a seat at the head of the table he looked at those gathered about the large table. Daniel Jackson looked as though he had just gotten out of bed, but everyone else looked wide awake. "Lt. Dayton here has some news that I believe we should all hear this from him." Looking up to the slight man standing at the side of the table, he said, "Go ahead, Lt. Dayton."

Daniel opened his eyes to look at the man. He was a little on the small side and average looking. He also looked as though he wanted to slink out from under the bright lights in the briefing room. "We just came back from P7X-882, I'm sorry, but the light is still bothering me." Moving to the end of the table he passed out a stack of reports to those gathered. Daniel took the one Sam passed to him, Mitchell took another and so did Teal'c.

"When we arrived on P7X-882 we came in contact with a humanoid race. They avoid light, living in underground chambers of their moon. They had never come in contact with Goa'uld, and they have managed to destroy the only Prior of the Ori-"

"What do you mean they managed to destroy a Prior?" Daniel jumped in, looking wide awake now, if a little ruffled.

Lt. Dayton looked up to Daniel and nodded, as though understanding what he was asking. They hadn't been able to find a viable weapon to even make a dent on the Priors, and now they were being told that someone had been able to do what they all wanted to do. "The little information I was able to gain from them in the week we spent there told me that they used some sort of technology as well as mental abilities." Looking around the table Lt. Dayton turned his gaze back to Daniel and added, "Actually, Dr. Jackson. They wouldn't tell me that much. They had apparently encountered what they called a '_mordra-eshu_' – we think they meant humanoid female. And they refused to speak to anyone but her _kadra_, we still aren't sure what that word means, but they did say your name, sir.

"Actually, sir, they refused to talk to any one but the _mordra-eshu_'s _kadra_ Daniel Jackson."

* * *

Daniel had just gotten out the shower, a towel wrapped around his waist while he went searching for something else to wear. They were shipping him and the rest of SG-1 off to P7X-882 to have a talk with the people there. The General had decided that if they wanted to talk to Daniel Jackson, they would get to talk to Daniel Jackson. Daniel wanted to know how they hand managed to destroy a Prior. If they could tell him that and show him how to do it, then it would be alright to step back from his search for Vala in order to find a weapon against the Priors of the Ori.

Truthfully, he'd rather stay behind and continue to look for Vala. He had only vague memories about his dream last night. She has said something about finding her today if he would only continue to look for her like he had in the beginning. But now he was being shipped off world to talk with some subterranean race about their technologies and mental capabilities. Frowning slightly, Daniel grabbed a pair of pants and pulled them on. He was trying to figure out what language these people were using.

Lt. Dayton's team, SG-8, didn't have a linguist with them. This meant that these people spoke English, or had learned to speak English in the week that Dayton and his team had been there. That in it's self was interesting. They had to be highly intelligent or at least very advanced, to learn English so quickly. Pulling on a shirt Daniel scratched the back of his head and frowned even harder. It wasn't like any language that he had heard before. And while he found the prospect of learning another language intriguing, it wasn't what he wanted to be doing.

Pulling on his boots Daniel grabbed the rest of his gear and went back to the briefing room. They were scheduled to leave within the hour. Lt. Dayton was going to give them a quick overview of the people they were about to encounter. General Landry seemed to believe that getting as much information first hand from Lt Dayton was important. And so Daniel found himself sitting in his seat again, listening to Lt. Dayton lecture them about the peoples of P7X-882.

"They live in underground chambers of their world. They almost never come in contact with the surface, stating that for as long as they can remember they have lived underground. They have…" And here Lt. Dayton hesitated before going on. "They have supper sensitivity to 'vibrations' in the air." He said vibrations as though the word was meant to be spoken with quotation marks. "Physically, they look much like us, except for the fact that a large part of the surface of their skin is exposed nerve endings and blood vessels, which is what we believe gives them that heightened sensitivity."

Daniel and the others listened for another twenty minutes as they were told more about the hierarchy of what they called their "colony" and their society in general. Their language seemed to be, in large part, a mystery to Lt. Dayton. He said that it took less than half a day before these people were speaking fluent English to them. They called themselves the Drakin. And on and on he went. It was all valuable information, but Daniel wanted to get there and get back. He needed to continue looking for Vala. Something told him that he would find her today.

It was not long after the half hour briefing that the team – Daniel, Sam, Mitchell, and Teal'c – was waiting for the address for P7X-882 to be dialed into the gate. "So what do you think about these Drakin?" Mitchell asked Daniel.

"They sound interesting. Actually I'd like to know how they know about me. I know I never encountered them before. And I haven't the faintest idea what kind of language they are speaking. The words don't even sound familiar. And if they have a way to destroy the Priors ... well…" Daniel looked up at the event horizon and walked up the metal grates towards it.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Like I said, it's a short chapter, more to introduce the idea of the adventure I have planned for SG1. I'm still a number of chapters ahead of what I am putting up. Your reviews are much appreciated is helping keep the story enjoyable, and hopefully the characters believe able. So, review if you wish. Constructive comments are always welcome, though flaming because you don't believe in Daniel/Vala tales aren't. 


	3. Chapter 3: The Colony

**Author's Note:** Thanks for the reviews everyone. Like I said before I am already a number of chapters ahead of what I am posting up, I'm writing Chapter 8 right now actually. This is another short chapter, but I promise I have another longer one coming up soon. As for when will Daniel find Vala, well you'll just have keep reading won't ya? So read and enjoy, and don't forget to review. Reviews are important to me, they let me know if I am slipping on the characters or leaving plot loops, though I don't think there is much of a problem with the last just yet.

**Disclaimer:** As much as I wish I did, I don't own the rights to Stargate: SG-1. But if someone wants to stick those under the Christmas tree for me this year, I won't complain!

* * *

**Chapter Three: The Colony**

It was dark in the cavern they came out in, even the reflecting watery blue light from the stargate did not do much to light up the cavern. It was surprisingly warm however. Daniel turned on his flash light, quickly followed by the piercing beams of light from Sam, Teal'c, and Mitchell. As the event horizon dissipated the team was left in the dark. Their flash lights showed them that the cavern they had arrived in seemed to be the central connection of many tunnels leading off in different directions.

"Shut off your lights," a whispery voice announced before them. The voice came from a tunnel, but when they turned the combined force of their flash lights to that tunnel there was nothing there. Just a disembodied voice that hissed: "Shut off your lights. I will provide illumination for you to see by."

Mitchell and Daniel exchanged a look before they shut off their flash lights, Sam and Teal'c followed suite. When the lights went out, they could hear a soft sigh of relief from the disembodied voice. It sounded much closer than the voice had been when it had spoken the first time to them. "Do not be startled by the sound," came that whispery voice just before a snapping sound came. Quickly followed by the snapping sound was a muted greenish-gray light. Another snapping sound and there was more light.

"They are a type of fungi that grow on the walls of our home. They produce light and heat. The light is not as harsh upon our sensitive eyes as the light from your… flash lights - I believe that is what they are called." In the soft light from the fungi Daniel's eyes were able to make out the features of the person standing before them. They were tall and slender, and Daniel believed that it might be female, but he wasn't completely sure. It was wearing a skirt of sorts and a loose fitting shirt, but there were no typical female characteristics as in most humanoid females. He wasn't even sure why he was looking for them other than he wanted to know if he was supposed to think of this person in terms of him or her.

Handing each of them a palm size piece of fungus their greeter stepped back from the group and looked them over. "I am called Tal'li," they were told in that same whispery voice. A pair of mismatched eyes turned to Daniel, he felt a little disoriented when his blue eyed gaze locked a set of brown and green eyes. When his head cleared, there was a small smile tugging on thin lips. The fungus was now glowing more brightly and Daniel could see the features that Lt. Dayton had spoken off. It was not a disturbing vision of a face, but as though a sculptor had begun a work of art and had left the project half finished. High cheek bones were traced by the nerve endings and the network of blood vessels, but those features covered the entire face and the neck, disappearing under the shirt. The mismatched eyes were almond shaped and set between them was a small thin nose. "I would be most closely classified as a female by your definition of the word," she said.

The others looked confused and Daniel looked a little stunned. "You can read minds?" he asked.

"No," she answered. "We can pick up the surface thoughts of those around us. They transmit like vibrations on the wind. I can access those vibrations, like tasting a sent on the breeze." Bowing her head slightly, she went on. "You were wondering if you should be calling me a he or a she in your thoughts, disliking calling me as it or they. By your definition of male and female, I come closer to being classified as a female."

When the others looked confused she smiled again to them. "Your Lt. Dayton was most informative about the differences between the male and female of your species. But by your definition, because I do not carry my young, I do not completely classify as female."

It was Mitchell who asked, "What do you mean because you do not carry your young?" Daniel could see him picturing egg laying, actually, Daniel was more than a little disturbed by Tal'li's answer.

"Our males, as you would call them, carry and birth the young. The child must be conceived within the female body and incubated for the first season, but it is ultimately the male that will carry the young for the next three seasons before it is ready to be birthed." She stopped speaking and looked at them for a moment. "But I wander with my words. You are not interested in our reproduction. I am sorry for wandering so. But I am an educator," she paused and frowned slightly as though wondering if she had used the correct word.

Sam looked between Daniel, Mitchell, and Teal'c and could see a sort of disturbed expression on all of their faces. She had a feeling it had to do with being pregnant and going through labor. It was amusing to see how the men reacted to such news, and honestly, even Sam found it a little unsettling. "Umm… We came here because Lt. Dayton told us that you wouldn't speak to anyone but Daniel Jackson," Sam ventured, trying to get them on track.

"Yes," said the woman. "Yes, we did ask for Daniel Jackson to come to us." She looked over the men and finally turned her eyes to Daniel. "We have waited a long time for you to arrive, Daniel Jackson. We thought that you might come soon after the _mordra-eshu_ arrived here some time ago. When you did not arrive to collect her-" her mismatched eyes turned to Sam when she asked "-you are classified as a female, a woman?" When Sam nodded her head a little confused by the question, Tal'li continued. "When you did not arrive to collect her, we tried to strengthen the bond that was already there to draw you to her. But still more time passed and you did not come."

Shaking her head to stop the questions that Daniel and the others had on the tip of their tongues, she held up her hands. "No, I am to take you to the Matriarch of our Colony so that she might speak with you. She has been tending to the _mordra-eshu_ since she first arrived. Come," she said and turned to lead the way down one of the tunnels.

Daniel and the others followed, passing looks between them. They were all just as confused as the other. Tal'li seemed much like Daniel when you got him talking, she went off on tangents, or got carried away with her subject. They were being led down a relatively dark tunnel, towards god knew what, with only the feeble light of the fungus that they carried to show the way. Daniel did ask another question however, "What do you call this place? The planet that you are on?"

Tal'li looked behind her at Daniel before she answered. "Again, Daniel Jackson, by your definition of the word, this is not a planet, but a satellite, a moon. We call it _Du' Ammi_. The planet that we circle, _Harum_, is uninhabitable. There is no surface of one to exist upon, and so we selected this planetary body to settle upon."

"You mean to say that you came here and chose to settle on this… this moon? Where did you come from then?" he asked. At least he seemed to be going back to his old self. His curiosity seemed to be getting the better of him.

"Your questions will be answered when you speak to the Matriarch, Daniel Jackson. She will have the answers that you are seeking. And I hope that you will have the answers that she is searching for." Tal'li was silent for the next while as they moved through the tunnels. When the light of the fungus they were carrying began to dim considerably, she announced over her shoulder, "Slap the fungi against the rock or another solid surface. They will brighten again. If they do not I will find you more."

Instantly the bits of fungi began to glow again when they were slapped against the stone walls of the tunnels. But there seemed almost no need to do so as they rounded a corner and were confronted by a massive cavern filled with bridges and plateaus, some with large rounded hunks of rock on them, and what looked like doorways set into the walls of the cavern and round stone mounds. There was light all around on the walls, under the bridges, on the ceiling of the cavern. It was the fungus, or something that looked much like the fungus, but the light did not seem to dim. Daniel doubted that the Drakin were moving about slapping fungus on walls and then sticking them back on. But the view the blueish-gray light that this fungus provided was not the same as the light provided by the bit of fungus he held in his hand.

It was a beautiful sight; this underground city. There seemed to be hundreds, thousands of people were moving about over the bridges, gathering on the plateaus and going in and out of the doorways. They were all dressed much like Tal'li was, in long skirt like bottoms and lose fitting shirts. Some wore veils over their heads that covered their faces as well. Daniel's jaw dropped at the sight. It was amazing to see that so many people lived in this place. The sheer size of the cavern was amazing to him. He wasn't completely sure how all those bridges and plateaus were being supported and not simply collapsing down into the bottom of what appeared to be a bottomless pit.

"This is your colony?" Mitchell asked, Teal'c looked like he wanted to ask a question of his own, but thought better of it.

"Yes, this is our colony. We have lived here for many generations. Come, I will take you to the Matriarch so that you might have your questions answered." Tal'li walked into the cavern and the others followed, a little behind her.

"This is amazing," Sam said quietly to the others.

"Indeed," answered Teal'c.


	4. Chapter 4: The Matriarch

**Author's Note:** This chapter isn't as short as the other ones, hope that you enjoy it. Though, I had to tweak it a little for it to properly connect into the story line that is rapidly forming in later chapters. Read and enjoy and don't forget to review, after all it is ego boosting to read that I wrote something good, but constructive comments let me know what I did well with and where work I needed… (PS - I already know that my editing sucks, I will, for the moment, blame it on my lazy editor friend). Oh, and the Mother and the Matriarch are one in the same, just used two different terms to refer to this person.  
**  
Disclaimer:** Stargate: SG-1 isn't mine, though I truly wish it was.

* * *

**Chapter Four: The Matriarch**

The Matriarch's room was located near the center of the cavern in what appeared to be a large hunk of rock suspended by nothing more that a handful of bridges. The outside was smooth and black, cool to the touch. There was only one entrance that they could see. The doorway was covered by a flap of material that was soft to the touch, softer than silk. The inside was well lit; the walls were just as smooth inside as they were outside, only there were alcoves for the fungi that glowed the blueish-gray light. There was simple furniture about the room, made up mostly of the same rock of the cavern. There were furs on top of a long bench and some round stools. There were more furs on the floor.

Mitchell, Sam, Teal'c, and Daniel stood just inside of the room. Tal'li walked in ahead of them and went for the back of the room where another door lay, once more covered by the same silky material that had covered the main doorway. She disappeared behind the material, leaving the four to their own devices.

Sam was walking around the room, looking at the fungus in the alcoves in the wall, prodding one to see if it was the same thing. She looked absolutely fascinated with the possibilities that this fungus presented. "I wonder how long it takes before the fungus starts to lose its ability to remain lit," Sam said to herself before she went back to Daniel.

Teal'c was standing firmly to one side of the door, at the ready. He was watching the room and seemed to be listening to hear if someone were on the other side of the main entrance. Mitchell was touching one of the furs on the bench, frowning at it. "I though that Lt. Dayton said they never went above ground. I doubt that there are many furred creatures that live in underground caverns like this one. So who do you think this Matriarch is?" Mitchell also moved over to Sam and Daniel and Teal'c.

"I don't know," Daniel answered. "There are a number of cultures that were matriarchal instead of patriarchal. It is typically easier to trace ones lineage through the women in the family. At last it is when the women are the ones who give birth. A woman is almost always certain that the child she gave birth to is her own, but a man has a little more difficulty in the matter.

"I am assuming that the Matriarch of this Colony would be the highest ranking woman in the community, possibly even a leader, clan chief, that sort of thing."

"You are right, Daniel Jackson." The soft, sandy voice came from behind the door covering as it was lifted. Another tall, slim woman appeared before Tal'li, who followed behind her. But this woman was one of those who wore the head veil that covered the face. "I am the highest ranking woman of this colony. I am its leader, both spiritually and otherwise. These are my people, my children. You have many questions for me, just as I have many for you. Please, feel welcome in my home and make yourself at ease."

The Matriarch had walked into the middle of the room and waved her hand to the fur covered bench and stools. There was even a large, smooth slab of stone that looked like it might serve as a table. There was a delicate design carved into the rock, but it did not have the chiseled look, more as though water had been run over the surface for many years to get that design. Daniel and the others took seats on the benches and stools, watching the Matriarch as she turned to Tal'li and laid her hands gently on her head, whispering some words before releasing her and sending her on her way.

When Tal'li had left, the Matriarch latched the material over the door so that it did not move, and could not be opened without some difficulty. The light in the room was barely enough to allow them to see much of what was around them. "I will provide you with more light. We learned very quickly with the others like yourself who first came here, that you have a difficulty seeing in the dark." The woman produced some bowls from somewhere in the shadows of the room and came back to them. Placing one of the bowls on the table, she reached inside and seemed to simply poke at the fungus in there. She did the same with the three other bowls she was carrying, placing them about the team so that they could see more clearly.

"Thank you," Daniel said, frowning slightly, he said, "I am Daniel Jackson. This is Lt. Col. Samantha Carter, Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell, and Teal'c. You are…?"

The Matriarch took a seat on a stool close to them, but a little further from the light than they were. "I am the Matriarch. Using your own words I am the Mother. It was not the name that I was born to, but it has become as much my name as the other. I was born Taj'Sai, but it has been so long since any has called me this that I would not know to answer you. So, you may call me Mother, Daniel Jackson, Lt. Col. Samantha Carter, Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell, Teal'c." She nodded her head and seemed to smile at them from behind her veil.

Daniel had opened his mouth to speak when there was a disturbance at the door way. Sam, Mitchell, and Teal'c were on their feet in seconds, guns pointed at the door way. The Matriarch stood up and pushed pass them saying, "Lower your weapons, they will not be necessary." She opened the flap over the door and with her sandy voice said something to someone just outside the door way. She seemed to have engaged in a debate with someone, she put an end to it with a scratchy phrase and came back into the room.

"Now that that is settled…" She reached up to the side of her face and removed the face veil that had covered the lower half of her face. "You do not follow our customs and so will not be so shocked by my removing of my veil. It can become uncomfortable when hastily put on." Again she smiled to them, and there seemed to be true warmth in her smile. With the added light in the room they were able to see that her eyes were mismatched like Tal'li's were, although Daniel thought they might be two different shades of silver. She even had similar features, with the high cheek bones, the slim nose and thin lips. "Please, sit back down. We will get your most pressing questions out of the way and then I will have a meal brought in for us."

Hesitantly, SG-1 sat back down, sliding their weapons back into their holsters, but did not completely relax until the Matriarch sat back down on her own stool. Daniel was the first one start asking questions. "How did you know about me?" It was the question that had been foremost in his mind. "As far as I know I have never encountered anyone of your race before."

"You are right Daniel Jackson. You have never met one of my children or brethren before. In truth, we did not know of your kind before the _mordra-eshu _arrived here through the … Stargate, you call it? That was when we learned of your kind. We have had very little contact with other peoples for many generations. When the _mordra-eshu_ came here to us we gave medical care as best we could, but I am afraid it was not enough. It was not long after that more of your kind came here with machines." She seemed to stumble over the word as though she were not really sure of its appropriate use. "From them we learned that they knew you, Daniel Jackson, and that they could bring you here to us."

"Who was that at the door?" Mitchell interjected into the pause in speech. The safety of his team was his first thought. He was aware that Daniel, Sam, and Teal'c had been on far more dangerous missions in the past, but even a pacifist might pull a gun on you.

"Those were my guards. They care for and protect me from some of our more zealous young ones who come to learn. All Matriarchs have their own guards. I kept them from the room to protect the privacy of the _mordra-eshu_ and yourselves," the Mother answered, seeming to read what Mitchell's next question would be. She smiled to Mitchell and added, "You find it disturbing that I am able to grasp the vibrations of your most prominent thoughts."

"Yeah," Mitchell said. "Makes me wonder just how much of my thoughts you can read." There was a strong tone of distrust and sarcasm in his voice, but no embarrassment.

"Not much, I assure you. Your minds work differently than those of my children. I can only feel the thoughts that are on the surface of your mind. With my children I can reach within them to find their deepest, most secret thoughts. But it is not something I do, Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell. It would be inappropriate to reach so deeply unless invited." The Matriarch seemed to trying to reassure Mitchell that he was safe in his own mind, so long as he did not think to hard on a subject to bring the thoughts up front.

"Mitchell," he said in response. And when the Matriarch looked slightly puzzled, he added. "Call me Mitchell. Using my full name and rank is not something we usually do unless introducing ourselves and in the most formal of settings. It's like listening to my mother when she's upset with me, calling me by my full name."

"I do not understand," Mother responded in a confused voice, but waved her hand to stop Sam's answer. "Do not worry in the answering of that query, I would not likely understand and it would be wasting precious time to attempt to explain it to me at this moment. But you would be… Carter?" She asked.

"Yes," Sam answered.

The Matriarch looked to Daniel and before she could speak he said, "Daniel. I prefer Daniel."

She nodded and said, "Ask your next questions, Daniel. I believe they will be the more important to us both."

"Lt. Dayton told us that you destroyed a Prior who came through the gate," Daniel started.

"That is not a question that can be answered at this moment," the Matriarch interrupted. She focused her mismatched eyes on Daniel and said, "You have another question, one that does not have to do with these Priors and how they were destroyed. You were instructed to search, Daniel Jackson. Ask the questions that pertain to that search."

Sam looked puzzled, but Teal'c seemed interested in what that question might be. Daniel leaned forward and asked, "What does _mordra-eshu _mean?" He didn't look nearly as unsettled on the surface as he felt inside. The Matriarch's comment was so close to the few details he could remember of his dream of Vala. The others didn't know however. He hadn't told them about those dreams, but especially not about the newest one where he had been told to search like he had searched in the beginning.

Mother nodded, her veil moving softly on her thin shoulder, sliding a little under chin. Taking in a deep breath she said evenly. "_Mordra-eshu_ does not appear to have an easy translation into your own language. We have looked for an accurate one, but have been unable to find it. The closest translation that we are able to provide is a female who has begun the process of bonding herself to a male but has not completed the process. When she came to us, we tried to repair that incomplete bond but found that the possessor of the other half of that link was missing and could not be found close by. So we have tended to her as best that we could, but it was not enough."

"What do you mean 'it was not enough'? Is she dead?" Daniel asked, looking perplexed and more than a little concerned. If he was supposed to find Vala today on this moon, he did not want to find her in a grave. He'd rather not know. He'd rather spend the rest of his life looking for her than know for sure she was beyond his reach.

"No," the Mother answered. "We understand that your word dead means the cessation of existence. This female still exists, but her hold on her own existence is fragile. We have never encountered your kind before. When we tried to repair the incomplete bond we were unaware that her physiology was never meant to sustain such an incomplete connection. And now without her _kadra_ she will cease to exist and we will be unable to aid her." The Matriarch's matter of fact words came out toneless with her sandy voice.

Sam was the one who spoke up this time, "What does _kadra_ mean exactly?"

The Mother looked to Sam, her head tilting to one side. "Again, the closest we are able to translate this word is mate. But it is more than that. It is a connecting of one mind to another, one heart to another, and one… soul to another. Again the translation is not very accurate, but our best understanding is 'other half'."

It was surprisingly Teal'c who offered the appropriate word that Mother could not seem to find. "Soul mate is the term that you are looking for I believe. It is a unique term for their species that describes two people who complete each other and compliment each other in every way." Mitchell gave Teal'c a funny look, as though not expecting the Jaffa to know about such romantic nonsense. Teal'c kept his pleasantly blank expression.

"Yes, that would best describe what _kadra_ means in my language. Thank you, Teal'c," the Matriarch answered. She turned her attention back to Daniel when she went on. It was as if, for her, the rest of the team did not exist. Daniel was her main concern, informing him of whatever it was she was trying to inform him of, was all that mattered. "You do not need to ask your next question. I can take you to her, but I do not know if she will be awake. We have kept her in a dream state to protect her from the incompleteness of the bond she holds. When we learned of you from her, and when you did not come for her, we tried to aide her in calling you here by providing her with a special item that would bring her mind to you in her dream state to communicate with you when you had entered a similar state of rest.

"We had hoped that by aiding her ability to go to you in such away that you would come to collect her and complete the bond that had been begun. But you did not come, no matter what we did to strengthen her ability to communicate with you in your dream state. We wondered if you might not be her _kadra_, but now that I have met you I believe you to be her _kadra_, her … other half," the Matriarch told Daniel in her sandy voice. "I can feel the incomplete bond in you as well, but you do not seem to be suffering adversely for it. Perhaps we had made the situation worse by attempting to repair the damage that we found."

She stood up waving them all to stand and follow her. "Please, come with me. I do not know how you form and complete this bond among your own people. But here it is a very public affair. The bonding of mates among my people is a time of great celebration." The Matriarch moved to the covered doorway leading further into the stone structure. Holding the flap open and led the way up a flight of curving stairs. There were only a few alcoves in the wall to add light. The sound of their boots on the stone stairs seemed to be absorbed into the stones, making very little noise as they walked.

"Where are we going exactly, Mother?" Mitchell asked and shuddered at the sound of that name on his lips.

"I have a healing chamber above my own accommodations here, where I have kept the _mordra-eshu_ to heal. I have not been able to accomplish much for her, however. I am hoping that Daniel will be able to help her by finishing the bond that was started." As they made their careful way up the stairs, the Matriarch replaced her veil over the lower half of her face. She was at the top of the stairs when she turned back to look at the four people gathered. They could almost see the mismatched eyes staring down at them from over the face veil.

"I will ask that you leave all of your weapons in the outer room. They cannot be brought into the chamber where the _mordra-eshu_ is resting. They are not permitted in such a sacred space. And I ask that you not turn on your flash lights. They will only cause harm to those who are with the _mordra-eshu_ at the moment and to the _mordra-eshu_ as well." With that said, the sandy voiced woman entered small room with only one small piece of glowing fungus to light the way. Daniel stripped off his weapons, laying them on the floor without hesitation, ready to follow the Matriarch. Sam, Mitchell, and Teal'c followed suite, though a little more slowly.

Mitchell had a feeling he knew who was lying in the next room. And if it was who he thought it was he had a sinking feeling about this idea about finishing some bond that had been started between Daniel and the "_mordra-eshu_". If this bond was their idea of a marriage ceremony Daniel might not like the end results when he got back to Earth. He didn't seem to be thinking all that clearly to begin with. After all it was for him and Sha're that the laws governing off-world marriage ceremonies made those marriages legal and binding. Mitchell looked to Sam and Teal'c asking under his breath, "Do either of you have a bad feeling about this idea to 'finish the incomplete bond' between Daniel and this mystery woman?"

Teal'c was the first to answer in a similarly hushed voice, if more bass, "If it is Vala MalDoran in the next room, then I do indeed worry about this incomplete bond between Daniel Jackson and this woman. They did not appear to get along while they were connected."

"They fought like a married couple before." Sam said softly. "I don't really want to see what they are going to be like if the Mother completes whatever bond is between them, especially if this is there marriage ceremony. But I think that the bond she's talking about has something to do with the connection they had created between them with the bracelets they wore for a while." The logic of Samantha Carter's words did not escape Mitchell and Teal'c and since Mitchell was already trying to think of a way to make sure Daniel did not end up married to Vala when he didn't have his head on straight; it made him glad that the band was back together, even if one member seemed a little lost.

Dropping their weapons next to Daniel's Mitchell looked at the rest of his team and shrugged his shoulders. "Guess there is only one way to find out… Who wants to put twenty on it being Vala in the next room?"

"No bet," Sam answered.

Teal'c wisely remained silent, not completely understanding this need to bet one what would happen to Daniel Jackson next. In the last ten years Daniel Jackson appeared to have hadvery little good luck.


	5. Chapter 5: In the Dark

**Author's Note:** I decided to combine chapters five and six into this single chapter, or it would have been two short chapters that would work better together anyway. Once more I thank everyone who put up a review for this fanfic. Your comments have been much appreciated. So here is the new chapter, read, review and enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** sighs It's not mine…

* * *

**Chapter Five:** **In the Dark**

Daniel felt blind in the dark room. There weren't any windows, no light sources, and only the slight sounds of the Mother's feet on the floor let him know where he should be walking. He could hear Mitchell, Sam, and Teal'c coming into the room behind him. He was aware of them behind him, but he was more aware of the force drawing him closer to the center of the room. Something was pulling at his gut, it felt like. There was something in this room that was drawing him further in, he couldn't explain it. It felt almost like he was being reeled in, but not exactly, almost like following the sweet smell of coffee in the morning. But it wasn't coffee he smelt. He could not put his finger on it. But he was drawn in.

Suddenly there was a delicate hand on his arm, stopping him from going forward. He wanted to shrug off that hand, but his better sense prevailed and he stopped moving. He turned in the darkness to the sound of the sandy voice of the Mother in all that darkness. "You feel the pull of your bond to this _mordra-eshu_?" She asked.

"Yes," answered Daniel. "I feel it, it's like something is pulling me closer, drawing me in."

"That is partly our fault. The bond that holds you and the _mordra-eshu_ together was never meant to be this strong," came another voice, disembodied in the darkness. Daniel turned his head towards the sound of that voice, trying to locate the owner in the dark.

"We did not know at the time that our efforts to help the _mordra-eshu_ might cause her more harm," another bodiless voice said. "We wished only to help."

"You must forgive us for what must be done. But if the bond is not completed, she will cease to exist, and soon you will begin to feel the affects of the death. It will cause you the same harm that it will cause her." It was the Mother speaking again next to Daniel. "We must complete what was started in order to save you both from the end of your own existences."

"I understand," was Daniel's only reply.

Mitchell had been listening to the interactions taking place between the Matriarch and Daniel. He did not like the way that it was going. It did not really matter if the woman he could not see lying in this room was one Vala MalDoran, he was not going to chance something going terribly wrong with Daniel and losing him. Regardless of what the Matriarch had said about if the bond was not complete and Daniel suffering for it as well, they did not have enough information to simply let this happen. They did not know enough about this people to even begin to show this much trust. And if it was Vala lying in this room, there was the serious chance that this bonding thing the Matriarch wanted to do was a marriage ceremony. He did not want to know how Daniel would react if it was a marriage ceremony and he found himself married to Vala. So he found his hand reaching blindly out into the dark where he thought Daniel might be.

When his hand closed around the familiar feel of the regulation material of the uniform that Daniel wore, he closed his fist, dragging the other man back from the Matriarch and the so far unknown woman she was trying to bind him to. "Now hold on just a New York minute," he said with a tone of sarcasm and concern. "No offense lady, but I'm not about to let you make a connection or whatever between Daniel Jackson and some woman we don't know."

The room had become unnaturally still at his words. Mitchell's hands were itching to hold the familiar butt of his gun. Teal'c and Sam were standing at the ready, waiting for a possible attack. They were all very much aware of the fact that they had willingly left their weapons in the small waiting room. "We don't know who this woman is. And you said yourself, that you had done her more harm than good with your meddling. We aren't just going to let you play around with Jackson here too."

It was the Mother's cool sandy voice that answered them. "You are right; we did not know enough about you physiology when we tried to help the _mordra-eshu_. But we have learned from her and now we have a better understanding of how to help her."

Daniel tried to walk forward again, drawn inexplicably to the center of the room. Mitchell didn't let him go. When Daniel tried to move forward, Mitchell pulled him back hard, dragging him behind his body and for to Teal'c to grab a hold of him. "Doesn't mean much to us, lady. You messed up with the _mordra-eshu_ and you might mess up with Daniel. We can't let you do that. And we can't let you just bind him to some unknown woman. He's already got himself a lady to obsess over."

Mitchell could almost feel the puzzlement fill the room at his words. They were struggling to understand what he was saying. "And what would we need to do to prove to you that Daniel Jackson is the _mordra-eshu_'s_ kadra_?"

Mitchell's answer was very simple. "Let us see her." He wanted light. Being blind was almost as disturbing as not being able to walk. The loss of such a primary sense was disorienting and disturbing. He had thought that maybe his other sense would heighten to compensate for the loss of his sight, but apparently not.

"We can provide some light in the room. But it will not be much. My sisters and I are used to the deep dark of the healing chambers," the Mother answered.

Daniel was struggling in Teal'c hold now. Mitchell could hear the soft scrapping of his boots on the stone floor. Whatever it was that had him wrapped around the Matriarch's little finger was obviously pulling more tightly on him now. "Let go Teal'c, please. She needs me." Daniel's words, though spoken in a whispered tone, carried in the room.

"Hang on Daniel. We just want to make sure everything is alright before we let you go," Sam said in as soothing a voice as she could muster. Sam was not your typical maternal type. She could be gentle and soothing when she needed to be, but it was obviously not her first choice of actions. She was an action girl, a military woman.

The struggling had stopped on a whimpered, "Please." This disturbed Mitchell the most. Daniel did not beg, he did not break - at least he had never seen him break. He was rational and logical but he was not being either of those things now. He sounded like a desperate man, like a man who was about to lose everything all over again. Mitchell was forced to remember Daniel's report about watching Vala burn to death before his eyes and not be able to save her. If it really was Vala in this room, and their delay cost Vala her life, Mitchell was worried that the strong minded linguist might break.

Daniel had stopped struggling against Teal's iron hold. He was half frantic to get to her, she needed him. He could feel it in gut, could taste it. She was afraid, she was aware of what was going on and she was scared. Why couldn't they hear her! Couldn't they hear her? She needed him and he needed to be near her, needed to reassure her that everything would be alright. He knew he was being irrational and illogical, that he was letting his emotions get the better for him. But it was more than just his emotions taking control, it was every instinct, every nerve ending, which drew him to her and told him she needed him.

A sharp snapping sound came further in the room and a greenish-gray glow followed it. Mitchell's eyes strained towards the faint light as it came closer. He could see the Mother's veiled face, could just make out the shape of her eyes. But she stopped in the center of the room and knelt down over a sunken in pit that appeared to be filled with pillows and blankets and furs. In the center of it was a dark hair woman who seemed to be sleeping. Mitchell walked closer, trying to get a better look at the woman's face. She was most definitely human. There were none of the strange features that the Drakin's seemed to have. But her hair was in her face, he couldn't make out her features. Kneeling down on the side of the sunken bed, Mitchell reached out to move the woman's hair out of her face.

He sucked in a sharp breath, leaning back from the woman and the light and let out in a hiss, "Jesus H. Christ."

* * *

They were all gathered in the main room of the Matriarch's home once more. Sam was practically sitting on Daniel to keep him from launching himself back up the stairs. Teal'c was standing before him, ready to grab him if he tried to get away. Mitchell was pacing back and forth, staring over at the Mother, who had taken up her seat on the stool once more. She was watching the interactions between them with interest. Mitchell wanted to slap that curious look off her face. What he had seen lying on that pile of blankets and furs had been down right terrible. 

It had been Vala. But there were deep furrows on her face and throat and arms and basically where ever there had been exposed skin. It was as if some wild animal had gotten hold of her and attacked her, bent on mutilating her body instead of killing her. Rounding on his heel, Mitchell turned to face the Mother. "What did that to her?" he demanded.

The Mother drew her gaze away from Daniel and the others to look at Mitchell. "The _mordra-eshu_ did that to herself when she was in a conscious state. I have told you before that we did not understand enough about your physiology when we tried to heal her. We were able to repair much of the damage she had arrived here with.

"When we attempted to repair her incomplete bond, things did not work as they were meant to. She had asked to be returned to her home, back to her Daniel. We told her that when she was healed we would send her anywhere she wished through the stargate." The Mother looked between them all before she went on. "She was calm and restful for a time, but it was not many days ago that she began to damage herself and scream to be returned home, to be returned to her Daniel Jackson." She turned her gaze to Daniel when she said that, her mismatched eyes assessing his reaction. Daniel had grown still and silent as the Mother spoke. "That was when we began to keep her in sleep state, but we could not keep her in such a state forever. She would require sustenance and we would have to wake her and she would damage herself more. When we placed her back into her sleep state, we would begin to repair the damage she had done herself. That was what we were doing when you arrive."

"So you can heal her?" Mitchell asked.

"Yes, given a little more time, we will be able to completely heal the wounds she has inflicted upon her body," the Mother answered.

"And then we can take her home," Mitchell went on.

"No," was the Mother's reply. "You will not be able to remove her from the care of myself or my sisters. We have been holding on the fraying edges of the bond for the _mordra-eshu_ since her arrival. If she were to suddenly be without one of us, we fear greatly what would happen to her."

This stopped all of them, even Daniel who had managed to remove Sam from his person and was half standing when he heard that news. "What do you mean I can't bring her back?" Daniel nearly shouted. His frustration at being forcibly separated from Vala was beginning to show. His nerves were one end, all he wanted to do was go back up those stairs and crawl under the fur coverings to hold on to her again. To feel that sense of peace that he vaguely remember from his dream, and to know that she was alright, that she really was alive and well. He wanted to bring her home.

Now he was being told he couldn't even bring her back. He'd been brought here to find her, brought here to help her, and they weren't going to let him take her home. Teal'c placed a hand on Daniel's shoulder and pushed him back into his seat. Didn't they understand that he had been looking for her, searching for her, almost from the moment she had disappeared destroying the Ori's beachhead? Now he had found her, he had to get her back home. Event he Matriarch had said that she had wanted to go home, wanted to get back to him. This news brought out a whole new level of protectiveness in him for Vala. A little voice told him that he was the home she wanted to get back to. Another little voice told that one to shut up lest it be forced to examine the reasons behind his every action since he had lost her.

The Mother turned her mismatched gaze back to Daniel. Her sandy voice was matter of fact when she spoke. "Until the bond has been completed, the _mordra-eshu_ cannot be without the company of me or one of my sisters. We have caused her enough damage by our actions. We wish to be sure that the bond is complete and she has stability to center herself upon before we will completely release her."

Mitchell looked at the rest of his team. Sam and Teal'c had managed to get Daniel to remain sitting down again. Daniel looked a little shocked by the Mother's words. Even Sam looked a little worried. It was more difficult to read the thoughts of the big guy however. His concern for Daniel Jackson's well being did not have to be expressed. It was what had gotten Teal'c back to the SGC so often in the last few months. But his thoughts were a mystery to him. "I'm going to talk to General Landry," Mitchell announced. The others silently agreed.

* * *

The Mother provided him with an escort back to the stargate so that he wouldn't lose his way in the tunnels. His escort, Mitchell guessed, was a male, and he seemed to blend in with the shadows of the cavern that the Stargate was located in. Even with the added light of the event horizon shinning all about, Mitchell still had a hard time distinguishing him from the shadows. 

"Sir, we will not believe who we found here," Mitchell said.

"And who might that be, Mitchell?" General Landry's voice seemed to echo against the stones.

"Vala, sir. We found Vala MalDoran here in the colony. She's been in the care of the Matriarch of the Colony since she arrived. Daniel Jackson wants to bring her back, but the Mother won't let us take her back alone, sir." Mitchell shifted his stance slightly. He did not like the idea of bringing the Matriarch of this Colony to the SGC but he strongly doubted that Daniel would leave this place until they could bring Vala back with them.

The General must have been thinking the same thing because he said, "Arrange something with this Matriarch, Mitchell. I doubt Jackson is going to leave that place until we can bring Vala back here."

"Yes, sir."


	6. Chapter 6: Connections

**Author's Note: **A long chapter! I had to rewrite the entire thing, too. It didn't work with where I wanted this story to go, but it does now. And yes, Wren Maxwell, I have read the Rhapsody stories; actually I own almost all the books. The Drakins and very similar to the Dhracians in that series. They were the first previously created race that came to mind when I thought of subterranean cultures, however, I am hoping that I have changed them enough to make them different than that fantasy race in the Rhapsody stories. But, read, enjoy, and review! It might take me a few days to complete the next chapter with all the changes I made to this one, but it should be up sometime tomorrow evening/night.

**Disclaimer:** Nothin' but the idea is mine. But if someone wishes to bribe Santa to get the rights for me I'll be the happiest person in the whole world!

* * *

**Chapter Six: Connections**

It was not difficult to get the Matriarch's agreement to go back to the SGC and to bring Vala with them. Mitchell thought it might have something to do with the half frantic look in Daniel's eyes when he thought that he would be forced to leave Vala behind. Or it the Matriarch just might be curious to see where they came from. Mitchell, however, was betting on Daniel's reaction over curiosity. These people didn't appear to possess the trait. While the Matriarch selected two of her Sisters to accompany her to the SGC, Mitchell was left to negotiate with the Matriarch's guards on how many they would send through the gate.

It took almost three hours to have the stubborn guards lower their initial numbers from three dozen down to four. Mitchell did not blame the Matriarch's guards for not trusting them; they had been isolated and rarely come in contact with any other races. But the distrust seemed to be something that they were born with regardless. These guards even questioned the servants that the Matriarch had sent for to help the other Sisters prepare to leave the Matriarch's healing chamber.

"We will keep our weapons while in your strong hold," Benhi, the Matriarch's head guard announced. His voice was like two smooth stones rubbing against each other. The mismatched eyes that stared over the dark face veil dared Mitchell to challenge him.

Unfortunately for Mitchell he couldn't guarantee that he would be able to keep those weapons. He hadn't even seen any weapons so far. "That isn't up to me, Bendi. You'll have to talk it over with General Landry when we get to the SGC." Mitchell doubted that they would be aloud to keep their weapons; he didn't blame them for wanting to keep whatever weapons they brought with them. Mitchell wouldn't want to bring Landry here without weapons to protect the General, never mind the fact that Landry was his commanding officer, Carolyn would hide him. But Bendi seemed content with his answer, understanding that he was not the man in charge and could not make guarantees – he turned to his brethren and in their native language seemed to be telling those he had selected to go to prepare to leave.

Mitchell looked around the open room for the rest of his own team. Teal'c was close by, silently watching the proceedings while Sam was talking to one of the Sisters that had come down from the upper room. From the bits of their conversation that he could pick up Sam was asking about their technology, and the other woman was struggling to understand what Sam was asking about. Daniel was strangely absent. "Teal'c, where'd Jackson get off to?"

"I believe he is still upstairs with Vala MalDoran," the larger man answered in his matte-of-fact voice.

Mitchell sighed. He was going to have to find that man a keeper. "Get ready to head out, Teal'c. I'll go collect Jackson." Under his breath he added, "Before that man find himself married to the thief."

Mitchell walked into the dark chamber; there were a few more bowls of fungus lighting up the room this time however. He was able to clearly see Daniel sitting in the sunken bed with Vala's limp and unconscious body in his arms. He'd always had a feeling that regardless of all the bitching and fighting that Daniel and Vala had engaged in, that Daniel had a soft spot for the dark haired thief. Seeing him hold her the way he did, Mitchell knew he had been right. There was an almost pained expression on the linguists face.

"Daniel?" Mitchell ventured, attempting to draw him out of whatever memory that held him. Daniel's eyes when he looked to Mitchell were liquid silver in the light of the fungus. Mitchell's skin tried to creep off his body when his eyes met Daniel's. He couldn't explain it what had caused the sensation, as he tried to shrug it off. "Daniel, we're getting ready to move out. We've finally settled on how many guards they could bring through the gate back to the SGC." Mitchell tried to keep his tone even and pacifying. That creeping sensation was warning him that Daniel was on the edge.

Daniel nodded and stood up, picking Vala up as well. The soft surface of the bedding under his feet made it difficult to maintain his balance with Vala in his arms. He was more used to carrying books and files, not unconscious women. It would have been easier on him to simply sling Vala over his shoulder, Mitchell had an offer to help on the tip of his tongue when he caught site of Daniel's expression again. Daniel didn't want the help; he had his own demons to take care of where Vala was concerned. And being gentle with her was one of them. "Let's go," Mitchell said, leading the way down the stairs.

* * *

General Landry was standing behind the defence men in the Stargate room. Thirty high powered guns, hand pistols, and submachine guns were pointed at the event horizon when SG-1 emerged with their guests. When he could see no obvious threat from the seven Drakin's Landry briskly ordered, "At ease gentlemen." Almost immediately every weapon in the room was trained on the cement floor. Moving between the armed guards, Landry offered his most charming smile. 

"Mother this is General Landry, the commanding officer at this base," Mitchell said.

His discomfort with using such a familiar term with the strange alien woman seemed to go completely unnoticed by Landry as he held out his hand to the woman. "Welcome to Stargate Command," he said, taking the Matriarch's thin hand in his own and shaking it.

"That is a curious custom, this shaking of hands," the Matriarch responded. Landry could see that she was squinting her eyes against the mild light in the room. "Perhaps we might move these introductions to a room with less light?" she asked. The sandy voice was even in the request, Landry had a feeling that she was trying to cover up how much the light was hurting her eyes, since he could hear distinctive hissing sounded coming from the other veiled guests.

"Of course," Landry said, keeping his smile plastered to his face. "We'll talk Vala to the infirmary to be looked at while we go up to the briefing room and get to know one another." He gestured to the medical team waiting to be admitted into the crowded room.

"My two Sisters and their respective guards will accompany the _mordra-eshu_ to your infirmary," the Matriarch told Landry. Daniel looked up to hear what else was being said in regards to Vala's well being. "We worry what will become of the _mordra-eshu_ should neither my Sister nor myself be with her. We have caused her enough harm and will allow no more to happen to her." Daniel could almost hear the sight smile in that sandy voice. The fact that Landry's was almost frozen on his face did not bode well.

"Very well, Dr. Lam, please brief me on Vala's condition once you have checked her over." The General turned back to the Matriarch and her remaining guards as well as SG-1 and gestured for everyone to follow him. "Shall we?"

* * *

The lights had been dimmed in the briefing room to the point of near darkness. Daniel was having trouble seeing never mind concentrating on what was being said around him. The Matriarch was the only one of her group to sit at the table, her two guards stood a little behind her, blending in with the shadows. General Landry was asking a question, but Daniel only caught the Matriarch answer. 

"As I told Daniel Jackson when he first asked this question, how we destroyed the Prior that came to my Colony does not matter at this moment. There are the more pressing concerns of the welling of the _mordra-eshu_," the Matriarch answered. The way that she answered made Daniel pause, however Landry's answer broke his train of thought.

"Well, we think it is a little more important than the life of a single individual when that life weighed against the potential benefit of those under the threat of the Ori," Landry answered tersely. "Vala MalDoran would agree with me. The Priors converted her entire village, only after they unleashed a plague on the inhabitants. She would think it damn more important."

"I am sorry, General Landry, but our customs dictate that the life of that individual is more important than a weapon of any kind against any foe," the Mother replied.

Daniel was getting the distinct impression that she did not want to answer the question regarding the destruction of the Prior. She was no longer just diverting from the question but sparking a debate about ethics and beliefs. "Why don't you want to tell us how you destroyed the Prior?" Daniel asked finally. He wanted the briefing over so he could check in on Vala. With the dominance competition erupting between the Matriarch and the General it wasn't likely to happen any time soon.

The Matriarch turned to Daniel. She was still wearing her veils, so Daniel could not read the expression on her face, but the distaste reflected in her mismatched eyes spoke volumes. She did _not_ want to discuss how they destroyed the Prior. "Because destroying the Prior nearly destroyed my Colony," she said flatly. It was interesting hear a sandy voice say something in such a flat tone.

"What do you mean? We didn't see any signs of weapons damage in your colony," Sam interjected.

The Matriarch sighed heavily. "Destruction does not just mean weapons fight," she explained. Bendi stepped forward, his hand lying on the Matriarch's shoulder, a show of support. "It is alright, Bendi," she said touching his hand gently. "I would have eventually told them." The guards hand slipped back from the Matriarch's shoulder and the veiled man melted back into the shadows. Placing her hands very carefully on the table, the Matriarch seemed to stare at them to collect her thoughts.

"You must understand that my children and I have lived in our Colony a great many generations. There have only been a handful of visitors come through the stargate, as you call it. Many of those visitors had become lost when travelling and came to my Colony by mistake. Some were injured; some were seeking escape from powerful beings. We provided care for those injured and offered shelter for a while those who came to escape, but many did not choose to stay, unable to function properly in the darkness of our home." Looking between Daniel and Landry the Mother levelled her gaze with Landry in the end. "We are a peaceful people. Never in my memory or in our records have we engaged in any kind of warfare. The few weapons we have are used primarily as tools to protect myself and brethren from over zealous students.

"But those same tools that protect me can be used as very powerful weapons as well. I explained to Mitchell that we are able to sense the vibrations of the thoughts of others. There are some that can use their thoughts to manipulate the vibrations of the world to their own ends. Our tools in combination with our ability to sense those thought vibrations is what helped us destroy the Prior."

Sam was shaking her head in confusion. "But that doesn't answer the question. How could what you did nearly destroy your colony?" She could be persistent when she wanted to be Daniel remembered. The Matriarch looked beaten.

"That is because you do not understand how the universe works, Carter," the Mother answered in a tired voice. "Everything is connected on different levels. You are connected to this table under my hands, but on a different level than you are connected to your friends. But you are connected. Your thoughts all exist on the same level and pattern as each other. You are connected, but your species does not have the ability to utilize this connection. Mine does."

"Mother…" Bendi said, stepping forward. He switched to their native language, excluding the others in the brief exchange of words. Their speech sounded more like grinding stones than actual words. In the end, the Matriarch waved a hand at Bendi, and while the guard stopped speaking, he did not move back to the shadows.

"Bendi believes that it would unwise to explain to you how we are able to utilize the interconnectedness of the universe, but I see little point in not explaining it to you, since you will only keep be talking when I am needed to attend to the _mordra-eshu._" Taking in a deep breath she turned once more to General Landry, addressing the man in charge. "It is the vibrations that we are able to sense in each other and others, which allow us to access that connection. I am able to sense the deepest thoughts of all my children. I am able to sense the surface thoughts of your race, just as I was able to sense the surface thoughts of the Prior.

"When the Prior was destroyed I drew on that connection. I drew on the abilities of my Colony to close off the Prior's connection to the rest of the universe. I removed him from that connection and used the same skills that allow me to read my children's thoughts to shut down the connections in his mind and eventually to shut down the mind itself. To do this I made myself the only connection he had, the only power he had to draw on, but he did not know how to draw on that power, and that was what saved the existence of my Colony. But I felt the Prior cease to exist, and because I was connected to every individual, my children, my brethren, and my Sisters, they all felt the Prior's existence end. They tried to close their minds to me, tried to end their connection to me, but I forced them to keep those connections open.

"I nearly destroyed the connective mind of my Colony. That connective mind is the heart and the … soul of my people. Without it, we would cease to exist."

There was silence when the Matriarch stopped speaking. Even Daniel was speechless. He had never thought of such a possibility, that everyone was connected on some level with everything. But in a way it made sense, a twisted kind of sense, but it made sense. It explained, on a certain level, how Vala and he had been able to communicate with the people in the Ori's galaxy through use of the people there. It even, in a slightly vaguer way, explained ascension and a whole host of other things. But they couldn't use this as a weapon; at least he didn't think they could.

"Well," answered Landry, leaning back in his chair. "Thank you for finally sharing that information, Mother." The word _mother_ seemed to come from the General like any other kind of military rank would.

"Now, I must attend to the _mordra-eshu_ and begin the preparations for complete the bond that was forged between Daniel and she," the Matriarch said, pushing herself from her seat, her guards moving forward to flank her.

"Just a moment," Mitchell hurriedly said, standing as well. "This bonding you want to do between Vala and Jackson, is it your idea of a marriage ceremony?" Sam, Teal'c, Landry, and Daniel looked first at Mitchell before looking for the answer from the Mother.

Puzzled, she asked, "What is a marriage ceremony?"

It was surprisingly Teal'c who answered her. "It is the ritual which binds two people into a monogamous unit which is the socially acceptable institution to produce and raise offspring."

"Then yes," the Matriarch answered. "The bonding would be part of a marriage ceremony."

She turned, ready to leave the briefing room when Mitchell asked another question, Daniel was a little too shocked to ask one of his own. "What would be the other part of your marriage ceremony?"

The Matriarch paused one step away from her chair and looked back to Mitchell. "The bonding is the public aspect, the ritual that would be celebrated before many people. And while the bond is permanent it only reaches it's full connection when the joined pair mate." She didn't move, as if knowing that Mitchell had another question for her.

And she was right because he asked, "So until the bonded people have sex they wouldn't be considered married?"

She honestly appeared to consider this. She turned to Bendi and said something to him in their native tongue. His reply brought a slight nod from her before she answered Mitchell's question. "No, they would not be considered married until they consummated the public ceremony. Why are you so concerned with what we consider a marriage ceremony?"

Mitchell carefully did not glance at where Daniel was sitting at the table, but kept solid eye contact with the Matriarch. "Because, Mother, here on our world a marriage ceremony preformed by an off-worlder in an alien ceremony is still legal and binding. We were concerned that Daniel was going to end up married to Vala against his knowledge and will."

* * *

Vala had been settled into a darker corner of the infirmary and had been hooked up to the various monitors that the SGC used. Dr. Carolyn Lam had drawn a few blood samples as well, just to make sure that Vala did not have the plague that the Priors had been giving to various peoples in random intervals. It was also to make sure that certain chemical levels were where they should be and to make sure that there were no harmful foreign chemicals in her body either. And while her patient was easily settled, Dr. Lam was not. 

The two Sisters and their guards had been making rather loud noises that the monitors they had hooked up to Vala were not necessary, and that Dr. Lam's interference was unwanted and unwelcome. She had tried to be polite and considerate of their different ways of doing things, but she had finally resorted to being down right rude when she said, "Daniel Jackson insisted that you bring her back here, correct?" When she had gotten a hesitant affirmative answer she went on, "Well, then. I guess your ways of helping her weren't good enough for him if he wanted her back here."

She had left the interaction with the alien women and their two guards to the nurses and the security detail that had been assigned to the small group. She would be glad to be rid of those bothersome women. Though, she was intrigued with their ability to put Vala into a sleep state and keep her there, bringing her out of it when they needed to. It only made things worse, when Dr. Lam noticed that the two Sisters knew before she did when Vala was coming out of her sleep against heir will. She was summoned over to talk to Vala when they could not get her to return to sleep.

Vala's grey eyes looked up to Dr. Lam's smiling face when she woke up. "Vala?" the doctor asked in a gentle voice.

Vala did not appear to see her, let alone recognize where she was. "I wish to return home," she said in a cracked voice. "I want to return to my Daniel. Send me back to Daniel." Slowly her voice grew louder and the Sisters, their guards and a few nurses were left holding her down trying to restrain her from hurting herself. Vala had brought her nails down her arms, leaving shallow cuts that bleed behind. She was screaming, "I want to go home! I want to go back to Daniel!" When Dr. Lam pulled out a syringe filled with a sedative.

The sedative was knocked from her hand by one of the sisters who hissed, "Fetch Daniel Jackson and we can put an end to this. All she needs at this very moment is his proximity."


	7. Chapter 7: I Do or I Die

**Author's Note: **It's a new chapter! I'm moving away from the official military aspect of the story for a few chapters until I can get those chapters written out properly. My lack of knowledge of any military system is sort of a mark against me (not liking the military is an even larger mark against me), but lucky for me I've got a few friends who have more than a passing knowledge. So until I can torture all the information they have to offer me out of them, I'll be focusing a lot on the Daniel/Vala aspect of the story. So read and enjoy and please don't forget to review. I'm getting into the plot now and I want to know if the story is interesting enough to keep you all reading.

**Disclaimer:** Stargate ain't mine… but I hold out hope.

**Warnings:** There are a few objectional phrases this time around, as well as a couple of phrases that are sexual in content. So consider yourself warned. I'm sticking with a PG13 rating for those couple of lines. It's nothing too serious.

* * *

**Chapter Seven: I Do or I Die**

Daniel was down the hall from the infirmary when he first heard the screams. The sound was like a punch in the gut. He remembered the last time he had heard those desperate sounds, sounds that had been mingled with his own wounded shouts. He was trying to shove aside the memories that came with the sound of Vala's frightened screams as he ran down the hall and into the infirmary. It took a moment before the entire situation to actually register in his mind. Dr. Lam seemed to arguing with one of the Sisters about administering a sedative, but most of their words were drowned out from the screaming. Dr. Lam looked frustrated and furious, about ready to do physical harm to the tall and slight female before her. But something he did must have caught the Sister's attention.

She turned about on her heel, a swirl of thin veils, skirts, and material used as a shirt and shawl. Dr. Lam looked to Daniel with a slightly relieved look on her face. Daniel had no idea what was going on, except that there appeared to be a struggle taking place on the bed next to Dr. Lam and the Sister, and the person being restrained seemed to be putting one hell of a fight. "What the hell is going on?" Daniel demanded, moving closer to the corner bed to see who was struggling.

"Daniel Jackson," the Sisters sandy voice sounded above the screams. "You must attend to the _mordra-eshu_. We cannot keep her in a sleep state without the rest of our brethren. Your proximity should calm her and bring her back to herself." Daniel was frowning, trying to understand what he was being told while he continued to fight off the memories that those screams were bringing to the surface. Because he was so distracted, he missed the Sister's dismissive gesture. The other Sister and their two guards released the struggling body and stepped back from the bed. Without the extra support the two nurses that were left were unable to keep Vala on the bed.

Daniel blindly caught onto Vala when she launched herself off the bed, flinging the two burses aside. His instinctive grab, however, did not protect him from getting a fist in the face, and a knee in the groin. Swallowing the sharp pain that followed that blow, Daniel dragged Vala in against him, more to protect himself from more damage than that knee had caused. Vala's strong, lithe body struggled against his hold, and she continued to scream. Daniel tucked his head onto Vala's shoulder, his arms wrapping more tightly around her, bringing her back against his front, leaving only his shins and forearms particularly vulnerable to her struggles. "God dammit woman, stop struggling!" Daniel hissed into her shoulder.

It was as if a switch had been thrown inside of her. Daniel stumbled at the sudden lack of resistance from the woman clutched tightly in his arms. All he wanted to do was huddle over his own agony, but he wasn't sure why Vala had suddenly stopped fighting him and did not want to risk her getting hurt now that he had found her. "Daniel?" her voice was hesitant and cracked, probably from all of her screaming.

Daniel made a grunting sound in reply, still trying to breath past the last of the searing pain radiating up from his groin. He could think that he was grateful that it had been her knee and not a fire extinguisher again. But remembering what it had felt like to have the solid cylindrical object hit him in such a delicate region made him shudder in remembered agony. "Daniel?" she asked again, adding on, "Is it real this time?"

"It's very real," he answered gruffly, not realizing that her words were echoing his thoughts on the dream he'd had of her the last night. But he did ease his hold on her, loosening his grip so she could slid to her feet, but remain in the protective circle of his arms. She held onto him when her feet touched the floor and she found that her legs wouldn't keep her standing. Daniel's eyes were still water from the pain of her knee in his groin and couldn't focus on her face.

"Did I hurt you?" she asked, but did not appear to need an answer. Taking support from his arms, she leaned into him and whispered, "Should I kiss it better?"

Daniel felt heat creeping up his face and gave a half growled response and deposited Vala onto the closest bed, falling into the closest chair. He leaned forward putting his head between his legs and breathing deeply. Daniel could hear Dr. Lam try to suppress laughter at his predicament. Apparently Vala's offer to kiss his hurt better had not been as quietly spoken as he had thought. He should have gotten used to her blatantly sexual comments by now, but there were apparently a few he still hadn't gotten used to. At the moment he would have preferred if she had just grabbed his ass and made a comment about it. Embarrassment did not begin to cove it.

Vala clung weakly to the edge of the bed Daniel had unceremoniously dropped her on. She had never seen Daniel so uncomfortable. It was a thrill to know that she could still put him off balance, but she was still a little disoriented. The last thing she could clearly remember was lying in Daniel's bed with him. And she was fairly certain that such a thing had never happened while she was here the first time around. It had been a dream, which meant that this was a dream.

But she had never dreamed of Daniel Jackson in any place but his bedroom or his overly stuff office at the SGC, unless she counted the few dreams of him in some strange room. But there had never been any people with them. "Daniel, are you sure this is real?" she asked nervously, seeing the four Drakin's staring at her. She vaguely remembered encountering people like them, but the memories were mingled with fear and frustration and pain. "Daniel?" she asked a little more desperately this time. He had to have an explanation, some form of reassurance for her. Even if he was only a figment of a dream.

Daniel looked up when he heard Vala's make his name a question the second time. He recognized some of that fear. It wasn't just in her voice; she was nearly in a panic. Her pale skin went ashen and her knuckles had gone white clutching the edge of the bed. Something wasn't right. He stood up, wincing slightly, and walked over to her. His movement drew her attention to him. Her eyes were opened wide, more white than grey, and she looked ready to bolt. "Vala?" he asked carefully not wanting to frighten her more.

She let go of the bed, hands coming up to clutch Daniel's shirt. The material bunched in her fists pulled the rest tight over his shoulders. "Is this real?" she asked. "I don't know what's real and what's not any more, Daniel. Those dreams felt so real but I'd wake up and you wouldn't be there and I didn't know where I was and I couldn't figure out what was real any more…"

Daniel held her face between his hands, breaking her babble of frightened words. She wasn't looking anywhere but at him. She desperately needed reassurance. He remembered the dreams she was talking about and had a feeling that the crystal the Matriarch had embedded in her forehead had something to do with the realness of those dreams. And while it relieved him greatly that he had never given in to the sexual urges some of those dreams had brought up in him, he pushed it all aside. Vala needed him to be calm and collected. She needed him to reasonable and comforting. "This is real, Vala," he answered gently. "We found you and brought you back. This is all very real."

"You found me?" she asked in a small voice. He remembered his constant insistence in those dreams that it wasn't real. That it was just a dream, that it wasn't real. Now he was trying to convince her that it was real. That she was back at Stargate: Command.

He smiled to her and nodded his head slightly. "Yes, we found you. We brought you back to the SGC with us." He was avoiding the one line that would make things better, but wouldn't be true. He didn't want to lie to her, but she wasn't accepting the truth. He guessed even those little lies, the comforting ones, were necessary at times. Sliding his arms around her shoulders, he brought her against him and whispered very softly to her, "It's alright, Vala. Everything is going to be alright. We found you, we brought you back. It's all real; it's not a dream this time. It's going to be alright this time… Trust me?"

Safe, she was safe in his arms. The last time he had held her like this, she'd come back from the dead. She remembered feeling safe. The protective circle of his strong arms drew her in against the warmth of his body. Closing her eyes she breathed deeply, trying to relax, and all she could smell was Daniel. She could smell his cologne, something vaguely spicy and exotic, under normal circumstances she was certain that her mouth would have watered at the smell. Under that she could smell his soap, something woodsy and natural. But under it all she smelt Daniel, his skin, the slightest hint of sweat. She closed her eyes and relaxed into the feel of his arms, the smell of his skin, and the sound of his voice. Daniel felt, smelt, and sounded like home, like safety, acceptance, and contentment. _Trust me?_ He asked her. She didn't even hesitate in her answer: "Yes."

She'd trusted her Daniel to do everything he could to see her safe and well. He'd found her, he'd brought her back to his planet where she would be safe…Safe from the Priors, safe from the Ori. If he said this was real, than it was real. He said that everything would be alright, and she believed him. Things would be okay now that she had found home, right were Daniel's neck met his shoulder, right in the curve. There was home, and that was where she belonged.

* * *

Daniel ended up sitting on one of the beds with his back against the wall; Vala was curled up on his lap, huddled against him. He kept his arms wrapped loosely around her, offering comfort. When Dr. Lam had tried to draw Vala away from him she become panicked again, unable to focus on what was happening to her. The Matriarch had arrived just when Dr. Lam was getting ready to administer a sedative while the Sisters hissed out objections. 

"Stop!" she'd called into the room. "You will harm her with your medicines." That had made Dr. Lam stop abruptly. She turned towards the authoritative voice of the Matriarch and the other from the briefing room. General Landry, Mitchell, Sam, Teal'c, and the other Drakin's had come into the room, mostly to inform the other Sisters and guards of the situation that had been decided for them.

That had been twenty minutes ago. Daniel was now rocking Vala back and forth softly, trying to get her to go to sleep while the nurses pocked and prodded at her - taking her temperature, her blood pressure, listening to her heart, and even taking blood tests. Dr. Lam had asked about the crystal on Vala's forehead and Daniel had listened interestedly when the Matriarch had answered her.

"It is a medical device that we use," she said. "It is much like your monitors, but both simpler and more complicated. It is also used when performing the bonding between two peoples."

Dr. Lam had extracted information from the Matriarch about Vala's time with her; the Matriarch's answers had been relatively uninformative. There was nothing that she could tell Dr. Lam that Dr. Lam couldn't find out for herself. Daniel, did, however, notice that Mitchell was keeping close to the good doctor. And even though the military man kept his hand respectfully behind his back, Daniel could see he wanted to touch her, even if it was just to cool a slowly rising temper. Even General Landry was taking note of Mitchell's actions, Daniel saw, the other man had a smirk on his face, as though he found Mitchell's predicament amusing. Of course, finding amusement in something other than the extended debate taking place between the Matriarch and the good doctor was necessary.

Daniel tried to keep up with the conversation taking place, but could feel sleep whispering to him. He hadn't gotten that much sleep when Sam had dragged him out of bed, he'd only gotten maybe three hours. Adding to this was the fact that he usually only slept four or five hours a night, coupled with his constant need to exhaust himself before hand… Daniel just wanted to go to bed. He was already drifting off to sleep when someone moved to stand next to him, startling him awake.

"It has already begun," the Matriarch's sandy voice echoed in his tired mind.

"What's already begun?" demanded Dr. Lam.

"I have been trying to explain to you that they are already bound, incompletely, but the connection is still there," the Matriarch answered. "If the bond remains incomplete, no matter how close they remain, they will both lose the will to continue to exist. And when they lose this will, they will cease to exist. It is progressing more rapidly than I had anticipated…"

Daniel blinked his eyes open, focusing on the veiled face before him. This close, Daniel was able to see the veins and nerve endings laced over the surface of her face. This close, he could also see that her eyes weren't silver, but dark grey and medium blue. It was an interesting mix of colours, he thought. "I must complete what was begun," she said finally.

"Whoa now just a minute," Mitchell said, stepping forward, away from Dr. Lam to confront the Matriarch. "You said that this bonding thing is like our idea of marriage for your people."

"Yes," answered the Matriarch and turned back to Daniel and Vala. The two just sat there and stared at the Matriarch. Daniel was just too tired to care what they were arguing about this time. He just wanted to sleep. Now that he had gotten Vala back, he could rest; he could sleep and find some peace in that act. He couldn't even work up enough concern as to why Mitchell was stalling the Matriarch.

Vaguely Daniel heard to soft click of the safety of a hand gun being released and forced his eyes open, forced himself to become aware of what was going on. If guns were coming out of holsters, he wanted to make sure that he and Vala weren't going to be in the bullets way. When his eyes focused and his mind began to function again, Daniel became very, very still. Mitchell had his pistol pointed at the Matriarch; other guards in the room that had come with the Drakins had their weapons out, safeties off, pointing at the various veiled guests. The four guards the Matriarch had brought with her did not appear to have any weapons in their hands, but then again Daniel was staring mostly at their backs. Things had obviously gotten ugly.

"You will stop us with your projectile weapons?" one of the Sisters asked. "You will sacrifice their lives?"

"No," Mitchell answered. "But you aren't going to go hitch up Jackson and Vala either."

"Then you are condemning them to death," one of the Drakin guards hissed at them, almost spitting out the words. "If the bond is not completed between them they will both die in a matter of hours. It will be an unpleasant death to watch. They will lose their minds before they begin to rip their bodies apart. And when one finally dies the other will feel their death."

"Kai, be silent, please," pleased the other Sister.

"Is this true?" asked the General, directing his question to the Matriarch.

"Yes," she answered evenly. "I was the one performing the ceremony when a cave in occurred and crushed Joral'em. The bonding was only partly complete when it happened. The end was … unpleasant."

There was silence for a moment. Daniel was watching them all, but he was functioning on an instinctual level. Everything in him was screaming to protect Vala from the danger that the drawn weapons presented, and while he was listening to what was being said, he couldn't understand what the meaning was behind the words. General Landry was watching Daniel and Vala, contemplative. "If you can gain their legal consent you may proceed," he said finally.

The Matriarch hesitated for a moment before answering, as though unsure what would be better. "Very well. We will do what we are able to bring them back to themselves while it is explained to us what constitutes legal consent."

* * *

The Matriarch had produced two more crystal objects that looked a great deal like the one Vala had embedded in her forehead. When the Matriarch placed it against his forehead Daniel could only frown at her, not understanding what she was doing. There was a pinching sensation and things seemed to come into focus. It was like putting his glasses on, everything just seemed to become clear and focused. 

Abruptly he turned his attention to Vala, wanting to check on her. But one of the Sisters had just replaced the crystal that had been on her forehead. The two Sisters took up positions on either side of the bed Daniel had been sitting on holding Vala while Dr. Lam explained what legal consent meant to the Matriarch. "I will have to sign off on their being able to legally consent to the act," Dr. Lam finished. The Matriarch did not appear to be overly concerned by this.

"You may speak to them, Dr. Lam. We have brought them back to themselves for the moment. We will not be able to maintain this level of coherence for very long. Without the rest of our brethren to lend support, this is a temporary situation," the Matriarch told her.

Dr. Lam walked over to Daniel and Vala, flashed a light in their eyes and asked some basic questions of them. Their name, where they were, who was in command of the SGC, she asked Daniel what the date was, asked Vala the name of the Goa'uld who had taken her as a host. They were fairly routine questions when one worked at Stargate Command. But all of their answers pointed to their being able to give legal consent to a marriage ceremony of any sort. Stepping back, Dr. Lam bumped gently into Mitchell's side, but Daniel noticed that neither seemed in a hurry to separate themselves. It made him wonder just how much of a relationship there was between the good doctor and the stubborn lieutenant colonel. Daniel worried a little over the possibilities since Dr. Carolyn Lam was General Landry's daughter.

"Daniel Jackson? Vala MalDoran?" The Matriarch questioned and Daniel brought his attention back to what was happening. When both Vala and he were listening to the Matriarch she asked, "Do you understand what the bonding ceremony means?"

"No," they answered simultaneously. Daniel had a vague idea of what it was, but not what it meant. He doubted Vala knew either, not with the level of curiosity showing on her face.

Sighing the Matriarch sat down and looked over the two of them. They were still sharing a bed, but mostly because neither felt much like moving. "Very well. When Vala MalDoran first arrived in my Colony, we were able to repair her injuries, and attempted to repair the incomplete bond that she had to you, Daniel Jackson. We did not understand then, that you physiology was never meant to sustain such an incomplete bond. You have the capacity to create and exist with the bond, but not to have it so incomplete without causing you further harm. When we realized our mistake, we were able to repair much of the damage that had been done. But we were unable to close off the bond, nor find the person who held the other half of this incomplete connection.

"Because of our lack of understanding you are now both at risk of losing your lives in terrible ways. We cannot close off the connection that has been established between you due to our lack of understanding. We are now at a cross road, we can either complete the bond, or we can leave it as it is and attempt to make you both comfortable in your last hours of existence." The Matriarch fell silent, watching the two of them. Daniel's jaw had dropped and his mind had just stopped working from shock. It was worse than with the bracelets, at least then they had just had to wait for the effects to wear off, but now there was the choice between getting bound together or dying.

Apparently having given them enough time to absorb the information, but not muster enough energy to ask questions, the Matriarch went on. "If you choose to be bound together, it is not an unpleasant experience. For my people, when a couple is bound, they become the others half, almost literally. For your species I believe it will not be this strong, but you will be able to feel the others stronger emotions, you will be able to sense what the other senses, and you will have an instinctual knowledge of where the other is at any given moment. But you will also feel when the other becomes injured; you will likely feel their pain. And should one of you cease to exist, the other will know it has happened and feel it occur. After this, for your species I believe that you will soon follow the other.

"But if you choose not to become bound to one another, the out come will be far more unpleasant. You will lose you minds, you will attempt to cause yourself harm attempting to rip the invisible webs that connect you from your body, and then you will die. It will only be a matter of hours before this will begin," she paused, taking in a breath before going on. "Your Mitchell has instructed me to inform you that this is the first half of our marriage ceremony. When you consummate the ceremony the union will be complete and you will, in effect, be considered married by the laws that govern your people. I will give you a short amount of time to consider your options, but I worn you that you do not have long before I will be unable to perform the ceremony." With this the Matriarch stood up and moved away from the two, going to confer with her guards.

Daniel just sat there for a moment, not sure what to think. He either bound himself to Vala or watched her die. And then he would die, came the after thought. But his death was less important to Vala's. He had spent months looking for her, months in a desperate state because he didn't know what had happened to her. And now he might lose her again because of some incomplete bond. He didn't think he could live with that. Then again, he would have to live with that if what the Matriarch had said was true. He'd die with her.

When he looked down at the woman who was still held securely in his arms, Daniel didn't really need to think about his answer. Something was telling him that it was alright, that everything would be just fine. Daniel had long ago learned to trust the gut instincts. They had never really been proven wrong before. He usually ended up in deep water when he ignored them. But it was more than that. Daniel had never thought he would get married again, not after he had lost Sha're. But just like being told to forgive Teal'c for the role he had played in Sha're being taken from him, Daniel felt as though he were being told to take the leap.

"It's up to you Vala," he said carefully. Daniel tried to ignore the crunching sense of anticipation that was turning his stomach into knots.

Vala huffed in his arms. "You're not evening going to _ask_ if want to be your wife?" Her grey eyes sparkled with mischief when she added, "You may not be a romantic, Daniel Jackson, but did it never occur to you that I might be? That maybe I might want to hear a man promise to make me happy and satisfy my every need?" But the humour in her words could not completely hide the seriousness under voice.

Daniel couldn't help himself; his head fell forward in laughter while his arms tightened around her. The irony was just a little much for him. Vala MalDoran was a thief, a cheat, a liar, and she was a romantic. Daniel could feel her stiffen in his hold from his laughter. He stopped laughing abruptly with this realization. She had just opened up to him in a way. And while he was fairly certain that her last comment about having some man promise to satisfy her every need was just a joke, he was completely sure that the first statement about being a romantic was true.

Lifting his head, Daniel looked Vala squared in her guarded eyes and asked in his most serious voice, "Vala MalDoran will you be my wife?" It was a complete leap of faith. He was trusting completely in that little voice that told him everything would be alright.

In an equally serious voice, Vala answered him. "I would be honoured, Daniel Jackson." She smiled brightly to him then and asked, "Do I get a ring with a diamond as large as the one stuck in your forehead?"

"Not a chance," Daniel answered laughing.


	8. Chapter 8: Making the Bond

**Author's Note:** I'm sorry that it took so long to get this update put on to the web. Unfortunately there were some problems with the original take of this chapter and they had to be fixed. Well I got it fixed, sort of. I am working on Daniel and Vala's dynamics. After all that I am going to have Vala go through during her time with the Ori, she's going to be a little different while she readjusts. So read and review, please! Constructive criticism at this point is very welcome! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the rights to Stargate: SG1… I also don't have money, so never mind with the lawyers.

**Warnings:** There is some sexual content in this chapter as well. It isn't really horrible, and probably safe for most people 13 and older. Most of it takes place near the end of the chapter, but there are a few comments strewn throughout. If you disagree with the the age limit, drop a line in a review and I will change the rating of this story to suite. But so far, in my opinion, I'm stil teetering on the PG13 mark.

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Making the Bond**

Having made their choice Daniel and Vala weren't given any time to dwell on the choice or change their minds. The tall, veiled women were moving busily about, dimming lights, burning inscents, setting the two up o stand facing one another with their hand and arms twined together. It took only a few minutes to have the small corner of the infirmary transformed into a dimly lit, smoky area for the ceremony. As far as Daniel could tell the ceremony was more involved than the preparations were. It was the words about to be spoken that were important, it was not the inscents or the dim lights that would make the bond between them, but the words.

Cameron Mitchell stood to Daniel's left, his hands clasped behind his straight back. He had been asked to stand as Daniel's _leaffenak_, which the Matriarch struggled to translate for them. She finally settled on Mitchell's reference to the best man in most Earth weddings. It hadn't been a perfect translation, but Daniel didn't help them try to find a better one, Vala looked as though she just wanted to melt into a bed, to be off her feet. Dr. Carolyn Lam was standing on Vala's right, her best man, since the word for the female attendant was the same as for the male.

It wasn't as dark in the infirmary as it was on the Darkins moon, _Du'Ammi_. They could clearly see the veins and nerve endings on the women's faces when they removed their veils for the ceremony. Dr. Lam merely blinked at the sight, but one of the stoic guards gasped and took a few steps away in surprise. The General was completely unfazed by their appearance, as though he had seen them a hundred times before. Daniel, Sam, and Teal'c had seen many different species during the last ten years with the SGC. Landry, Mitchell, and the others fell back on their military training. Vala and Daniel, standing in a slightly awkward position, kept their eyes on each other as the Matriarch had told them to do. Clearing their minds, however, was more difficult.

Daniel's mind kept creeping towards the fact that this ceremony would see him married again…once it was consummated. His mind also tried to dwell on the fact that this would very literally be an 'until-death-did-the-part' marriage. There would be no way to back out if things didn't work out. Daniel tried to keep his mind from this, but it was proving harder than he thought, especially the fact that he was about to get married again, something he hadn't really ever planned to do again. Date – yes; committed relationships – yes; married – no.

Vala was also trying not the think to hard on the fact that she was about to enter the one institution she had always planned to avoid. She had never planned to enter into a _committed_ monogamous relationship. She was never in one place long enough to make that kind of connection with someone. She hadn't wanted to settle down with just one man, life was too short. Or she had believed that life was too short for such forms of relationships. But after all she had seen, all she had done, everything she had experience at the hands of the Ori and their Priors, she had discovered that running was what made life seem so short and almost shallow at times. She felt ready to settle down. She had lost the village that had sheltered her when the Goa'uld had been removed from her body. She had lost her home when she had been taken as a host.

Now that she had found that once-in-a-lifetime feeling of safety and home in another person, she didn't want to give it up. She had run from almost everything all of her life, now that she had lost almost everything, she was ready to face her fears and make a stand. She had something worth protecting, worth defending, worth dying for; she was going to fight to keep it. Settling down with Daniel didn't seem like such a horrible thing to happen. She had decided to face her fears, and settling down with a man that made her feel safe and could still make her heart trace with just a glance was a frightening prospect. But she trusted Daniel. She just didn't examine why and how she had come to trust someone the way she knew she trusted him. She was not ready to poke at those emotions.

The Matriarch stood before them, her gloved hands covering their joint ones. Her sisters stood behind them, their hands lying flat on Daniel and Vala's backs. It was a gesture of support, but they were also going to help guide the frayed edges of their connection properly together. They couldn't do it themselves without the additional sense that the Drakins had. The Matriarch began to speak in her sandy voice, reciting the ritual words she had memorized at a very early age. Something in the back of Daniel's mind understood what the Matriarch was saying in her native language.

"Two bodies, two halve of the same whole. Through the collective mind of the universe you have found your other half. Two minds are one, two hearts beat in time, two souls join together. Two bodies, like pieces of a puzzle, fit together to form one. Two people coming together to make one person. The connections have always been there, waiting for a time that they could be found, waiting while the search went on for someone's edges who matched you own perfectly.

"Like your fingers, linked together, so are your minds. Your thoughts follow the same paths, weaving the same trails through the mind. Reach for each other, touch mind to mind and allow the edges to find their connection." Vala could feel something in her reaching out for Daniel. She didn't resist the sensation; it felt so right to reach for him like this, as though she had done this many times before. When that first touch occurred she felt a quick flash of contentment, of strength. Daniel, on the other hand, caught a flash of something that he could only describe as _home_. "With the mind joined, one part of your halves has become bound.

"Like the flats of your palm, pressed together, so are meant to be your hearts. Two hearts with a single rhythm and beat. Reach for each other, touch heart to hear and allow the edges of broken hearts to find their connection." There were no flashes of insight only the slowing and stuttering of the steady rhythm of the heart. Daniel felt his heart miss a beat until it caught an apparently matching rhythm. Daniel could feel Vala's pulse in her palm against his own, but more than that it was as though he had two hearts pounding in his hest, sliding over and around each other. It was a disturbing sensation, feeling two powerful and slick muscles in time against the other, but it was comforting on another level. It was like being assured that the other still lived, Vala decided while she tried to catch her breathe, seeing a similar reaction on Daniel's face. "Hearts beating in time, to a rhythm as old as the universe, the pulsing of life, of your hearts now beating for each other.

"Like the twining of your joint arms, so are your souls meant to be. They have searched the endless search to find its other half, pausing along the way in their search. Reach to your other half; connect your souls to become a single existence shared between two bodies." They both gasped when they felt this connection taking place. It was breath taking and shocking. There were brief flashes of confused jumbles of emotions, small glimpses of memories, images, and thoughts. Daniel could almost feel his socked feet on the cool cement floor, even though his feet were still in the military regulation boots. Vala could feel the light pinch and weight of glasses on her nose and felt a need to push them back up the slop of her nose, even if they were on Daniel's face.

The sensations did not leave as quickly as they had come. It was like a slow melting of the edges of what made two people separate. Feeling as though they were in two bodies at the same time receded, but did not disappear completely. It was as though if they thought on the connection hard enough they could recapture that disorienting feeling.

"The public ceremony is now complete. You are one mind, one heart, one soul, and one life in two bodies. Before those gathered you have linked yourselves together and in this act pledged to protect, provide, and cherish one another. Your existences are forever connected; the happiness of one is the happiness of the other. With our blessing for prosperity and fertility, we leave the last of the binding for you," the Matriarch toned out in English. "In the eyes of your loved ones your souls have been tied, it is now for you to make the bodies' one." Bowing their heads the Drakins all took a few steps back, making a clear path for the new couple to use to leave the infirmary and apparently go make their bodies' one.

Daniel just blinked at them all. Sex hadn't been part of the bargain he had made. It wasn't as though his body hadn't thought of the possibilities presented and offered by Vala, both outwardly and subtlety. Even Vala gave them all an odd look. She looked back to Daniel and stated in a very flat voice, "No offence, Daniel, but I have fussy teeth, I need a shower, and some real rest. I don't feel the least bit tempting or sexy."

"None taken," Daniel said, somewhat relieved that Vala hadn't been expecting this either.

Mitchell made a chocking sound, as though he were trying to smother a laugh. Dr. Lam didn't even look at him - just hit him on the arm to make him stop. "You two aren't leaving the infirmary until I know that you are both alright," the doctor said, not looking at Daniel and Vala but at the Matriarch. Daniel and Vala had untwisted their hands and arms, and when Vala slumped from general weakness, Daniel wrapped his arm around her waist to give her support and keep her standing.

The Matriarch was frowning at them all, but especially at Dr. Lam, her hands resting on her narrow hips. "They must complete the ritual. It will only cause them more stress if they do not. They will not be able to remain apart of long periods of time without feeling that separation if they do not consummate the bonding that just took place."

Daniel frowned back at the Matriarch and matter of factly, "Sex might be a means to an end for your people, Mother. But for some of my people it means a certain level of commitment and trust shared between two people. Vala and I will cross that bridge when we come to it."

"And they aren't leaving the infirmary until I clear them," Dr. Lam repeated firmly. "Now if you will kindly remove those things from their foreheads?" Everyone else gathered stood as still as they could. It was like watching two wild animals fight for dominance in a civilized manner. It wasn't something you wanted to step into, just in case some of the civilized violence turned your way. "You've all gotten a relatively clean bill of health. I am sure that the gentlemen who escorted you here would not mind showing you to the guest quarters we have set up for visitors… Once you have removed those crystals from Daniel and Vala."

There was a tense moment, when even the Drakin guards appeared to be holding onto their breath waiting for the Matriarch to answer. "Of course," the Matriarch answered, bowing her head slightly. Daniel had a feeling that she would not have given such a reaction to General Landry. He strongly doubted that the Matriarch respected any man in a position of authority, but put a woman willing to take charge and apparently she was perfectly fine with this. The woman stepped to him, running her gloved thumb over the crystal. Daniel felt it release from his skin and when the Matriarch removed it, he rubbed the tender spot. "I will inform you of this," she added when her attention turned to Vala. "They cannot be separated at all for the first day. The bond is still too new and it will cause them more harm than good. They must remain within a few feet of each other."

* * *

Daniel ended up sitting on the floor in the steam filled bathroom. They had quickly discovered that the few feet the Matriarch had talked about had been a little less than five in total. The bathroom they had managed to commandeer was too large to have him sitting out in the hall, waiting for Vala to finish with her shower. He had quickly discarded his boots, socks, shirt, and glasses when the room had begun to fill with steam. 

"How much longer are you going to be, Vala?" he asked, for the third time. She'd been under the hot spray for almost half an hour. She had taken a tooth brush with tooth paste, shampoo, conditioner, soap, and enough razor blades to successfully make a mammoth bald into the shower with her.

"If you are growing so impatient, you could always just hope in with me," Vala offered sweetly. "There is more than enough room to fit the two of us in here."

Daniel snorted in response. She sounded as tired as he felt, and while her voice had been almost honey sweet, there had been no hint of teasing. He might have seen everything there was to see, so to speak, when he'd stripped her and changed her clothes on the _Prometheus_ when she'd attempted to steal the ship, but he didn't want to subject himself to the sight of her naked, wet, warm, and awake. There was only so much a man could take before he just snapped and did something he would regret. Climbing into the shower with Vala still in it, would be the straw that broke the camel's back.

"I'm almost done," Vala said behind the plastic curtains of the shower. "The shower will be all yours in a few minutes."

"If there's any hot water left," Daniel muttered in response.

"Don't be such a spoil sport, Daniel. Do you know how long it has been since I was actually able to take a shower?" she demanded. Daniel made a face and leaned forward, pulling his t-shirt off and launching it into the corner of the room where the rest of their discarded clothing lay. The tiles felt cool against his skin when he leaned back against the wall, shutting his eyes as Vala went on about the primitive state that many of Ori worlds were in, not to mention the lack of plumbing on the Drakin home world. It wasn't anything she hadn't already told him. Most of the Ori worlds were primitive, poverty stricken, and superstitious. Hell, it wasn't anything he didn't already know from experience.

The water shut off in the same moment that Vala stopped talking. Daniel opened his eyes at the sudden silence and glanced over to the plastic curtains covering the shower and Vala in the process. Her hand and arms reached out from behind the plastic to snag at towel from the pile that had been stacked next to the tub on the toilet. When she reached for a second towel, Daniel stood up, waiting for her to get out so he could get the clothes a nurse had promised to leave for them outside of the bathroom door.

"All yours," Vala announced when she pulled back the shower curtains and stepped out. Her eyes were wide, skin pink from the hot water and obvious scrubbing. Daniel was up on his feet and moving towards the door to get the promised clothing that had been left for them. He didn't see Vala's appreciative glace at his naked torso as he padded barefoot out the door, she followed him more to continue to watch this newly revealed bit of Daniel. She hadn't expected him to be comfortable half naked in front of her, and was pleasantly surprised that he was.

"Thank you," she said, taking the clothing he handed to her when he came back into the room. She knew that he had expected something different than the thanks she had given, and reasoned that it was because before she had left she had taken every opportunity to make sexualized comments towards him, and now she wasn't. But Daniel had said it best when she'd gotten into his room to tempt him. She'd used sex as a defence mechanism. She did it to protect herself from getting hurt, to prevent becoming attached to anyone. Well, she was now more permanently attached to one man than she thought was possible.

"You're welcome," Daniel answered, closing the door behind him as he walked around Vala towards the shower. He was trying to figure out why Vala was not acting like Vala when he bent over to start fiddling with the hot and cold water taps. She had made only half hearted attempts to embarrass him. It was as if someone had taken the child like Vala away and left a more grownup, more jaded and weary Vala behind. One of the things he had missed most was the passes Vala would make to him. They had annoyed him to no end while she had been there and it wasn't until she was gone that he realized they had turned it into a game.

She was far more intelligent that she let on, he had learned that when she had stopped the Ori's attempts to make a beachhead in their galaxy. They had all underestimated her, but he had done so more than the rest. They had all taken their lead from him, and Vala had just fallen into what he expected her to be. He hadn't really given her a chance then, he'd ignored her, forced her to put herself in harms way to prove him wrong and save them all.

He stuck his hand under the running water checking the temperature and pulled the little pin that got the water spraying from the shower head instead of pouring out of the tap. A quick glance told him that Vala was busy getting herself dressed, and he undid the button on his pants and let down the fly, pushing the material from his body and stepping into the spray of water. The curtains were quickly shut behind him.

He was faster than Vala had been, not feeling a need to scrub his skin raw under impossibly hot water. But he did cringe when he poured some of the shampoo into the palm of his hand and came away with a vaguely flowery smell. He also needed to shave. He had neglected the act for almost a week and stubble growing on his jaw either needed to be shaved or left to grow into another beard.

Shutting off the water a few minutes later, Daniel stuck his hand out from the curtain and reached for a towel. He hoped that Vala hadn't used all of the razors she had brought into the shower with her. Looking at the collection of disposable blades he wiped his face and asked, "Vala did you use all of these blades?"

"No," was her reply. "There's one in there I didn't use. I thought you might want to shave that scruff from your face."

Scruff. Knotting the towel firmly around his waist he pulled back the curtain with the blades in hand. He guessed that the stubble projecting from his jaw and chin could be called scruff, at least in the state that it was currently in. Vala was dressed in the standard blue garb of those people forced to remain in the infirmary. The shapeless clothing did little to hide the fact that she hadn't had a decent meal in a while and had lost weight. Laying the blades on the counter Daniel picked up his set of blue clothes, separating the pants from the shirt. "Which one didn't you use?" he asked shaking the pants out and stepping into them.

"Really, Daniel. It isn't as though I have never seen a nude male body before," Vala responded to his modest attempt to not flash her. She picked up one of the razors from the group and held it out to him when he pulled the towel from his waist and rubbed his hair. "Here."

"Thanks," he mumbled and set to shaving with Vala watching him with interest in the mirror. He had to think back remember the last time a woman had stood by and watched him shave. Even Sha're hadn't taken an interest in his grooming habits, except to try and convince him to grow a beard. It was an interesting experience. He was very much aware of her attention on him, but he couldn't draw his attention too far away from what he was doing. If he was anything, he was accident prone.

He gotten half of his face done and was running the blade under his chin when Vala spoke, "You know, the scruffy rugged look actually suited you to a point."

Daniel's hand stopped moving and he looked at her in the foggy mirror, meeting her eyes. There hadn't been a teasing note in her voice, and she didn't have the customary smile that usually followed a pass. She looked serious, as though she had meant her words to be a compliment. It had shocked him, and he thought that it might have shocked her as well, but he wasn't sure how he knew that it had. It was like something was letting him see under the pleasant mask she erected between herself and attachment. "Yeah?" was the only reply he could force from his lips before he resumed his movements. No need to keep a sharp blade pressed to your throat.

She crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall, watching him carefully for another minute as he continued to remove the facial hair with the sharp edge of the blade. "You are completely oblivious, aren't you?"

This confused him. "Oblivious about what?" he asked. He had no idea where this line of questioning was going. And while a part of him was interested in finding out, another part of him just wanted to shut her up by stamping his mouth to hers and changing her words into incoherent screams when he took her up against the wall.

Something must have shown on his face because Vala took a step forward, lowering her arms to her sides as she took the few steps that separated them. She never broke eye contact, and even in the formless infirmary garb, she still managed to look sensual. Daniel's heart was racing his chest, his muscle tightened expectantly - waiting. He watched her, watched her because he couldn't do anything else. Her gaze refused to let his go, he was trapped by a pair of grey eyes in a foggy mirror, like a sirens appearing from the rising mist of the sea. It wasn't her voice that was captivating, so much as the expression she wore was. Again it was like being given a pair of x-ray vision glasses that aloud him to see under her carefully constructed mask.

"You are completely oblivious to the effect you have on women," she answered in a low voice. "You have no idea how attractive you are, and because of that you are unaware of the women around you who nearly pant after you." When he just continued to stare at her, no saying anything she went on. "Wide shoulders… powerful legs… full lips… strong arms…" The lowered tone of voice she used tugged at strings inside of him; strings he hadn't known were there to be tugged on. The husky quickly of her voice was more than enough to drive him crazy with want. But when he saw her hand move up to his arm everything in him stopped. He was fairly certain that even his heart had stopped beating. Everything was waiting for that touch, that permission to touch her back because she had touched him first. But there was small voices screaming that she not touch him.

Her fingers came in contact with his upper arm. Just a light fleeting touch was they trailed down to his elbow, rising goose bumps. It was such a small touch; she had made far more intimate contact with him in the past. But that small touch was all that it took to raise an overwhelming rush of _need_. It was the best word he could describe the feeling with. It wasn't lust; it wasn't desire, or wanting. It was _need_ pure and simple. And in less than a heart beat, Daniel had Vala up in his arm and up against a wall with her legs wrapped firmly around him.

She made no move to protect herself when they came in contact with the tiled wall, only lacing her arms over his shoulders and bringing her lips down to his, only a hairs breathe away, leaving him to close that distance, and he did. He stamped his mouth to her, taking, exploring, claiming. What he was feeling had nothing to do with mutual attraction and affection, little to do with lust, and _everything_ to do with possession. It wasn't like him. It was like some beast had risen up inside of him, that primitive part of his mind demanding to claim, mate, and possess the woman in his arms, feeding just has hungrily from his lips as he was hers.

Daniel pulled back from the kiss as abruptly as he had started it, resting his forehead on her shoulder. Her nimble fingers were kneading the muscles in his shoulders and back. Even this was arousing. Daniel groaned softly and said in a gruff voice, "I won't be another conquest, Vala. We aren't doing this now, not like this." With that, Daniel stopped leaning his weight against her body, releasing her so that she had let go of him and stand on her own as he went back to the sink to quickly rinse off his face and wipe it with a towel.

"Let's go. Dr. Lam probably has a meal set up for us," Daniel said scooping up their discarded clothing and walking out of the room.

The only three things that Vala could clearly think was to be thankful that Daniel had come to his sense since she doubted she would have; that she was hungry; and that she could damn Daniel's sense of nobility all the hell for leaving her aroused, needy, and unsatisfied in even the smallest sense. But she gave none of this away as she followed him out of the bathroom attached to the infirmary.

* * *

**Author's Note: **It was a longish chapter even! I hope you enjoyed and that you'll keep reading as I get these chapters up. I do read ever review that I get, and take the comments to heart. So while being told that what I'm writing is great is a wonderful ego boost, I want to know what you liked best, or what you disliked the most, or even where you are seeing problems/flaws in my writing. The editing I blame on my editor friends who proof read all of my stuff. They are much more accustomed to proof reading academic papers, not fanfiction. I have the poor souls in a state. So let me know what you think. 


	9. Chapter 9: Day One

**Author's Note:** Another long chapter, kind of… I'm going for word count for chapter lengths now since I want to see if I can get this story up to 50k word count or beyond, a sort of challenge to myself. And I am most definitely going to keep this story going. I like where it is going, and I like the challenge it presents is writing according to the rules previously set out. Thank you for your reviews, as well. You have no idea how encouraging it is to read detailed reviews or the silly, happy, giddy feeling I get when I realize my story has found a place on someone's favourite list. However, to those who sent me flaming e-mails in regards to this story, attacking me as a person is pointless. If you wish to flame my work please have the nerve to do it publicly and actually flame the work itself, not me as the writer or person. It's rude and unacceptable.

But for everyone else, please read, review and enjoy. I'm writing the story for those who are as interested in the possibilities presented in sublet hints offered in the episodes of this show.

**Disclaimer:** Stargate:SG1, as much as I wish belonged to me, doesn't.

**Warning:** I don't think there is much to warn anyone about. There is no overtly sexual behaviour, unless you count arousal and there aren't any really objectionable words or phrases… again unless you count the word "crap" as in appropriate.

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Day One**

It was a little after midnight when Cameron Mitchell walked into the dimmed infirmary. Landry had given his team some down time so Jackson could get used to his new attachment. Cameron didn't really have a problem with this. It meant he had more time to spend with a particular doctor. It still made him a little uneasy to think about the fact that he was involved with the General's daughter. Carolyn thought it was amusing, but then again, every man she had dated was a little frightened of her father. This was the first time she was involved with someone directly under his command. Neither of them was in much of a hurry to inform the General of the identity of the man Carolyn was dating. Cameron didn't want to be the one to tell the man he was dating his daughter for fear of the reaction he might get. After all, it wasn't like Cameron had the most normal or safest job in the world. If anything he had the single most dangerous job, and more unusual than the General's for the fact that he was the one that went off world while the other man did mostly paper work. Carolyn didn't want to tell Landry because they weren't close and she felt it was none of his business.

Cameron glanced about the room, searching for Carolyn. He found her hunched over a desk in the corner of the room. The computer screen shone brightly over her sleeping form. He had to wonder how many times he came here only to find her asleep on her desk. She worked herself too hard sometimes, but that was what made her good at her job, and it was what made Carolyn - Carolyn. Laying his hands gently on her shoulders, Cameron leaned forward and whispered, "Carolyn, time to wake up." She was a fairly heavy sleeper, but he had soon learned that waking her up with prompts was possible.

She stirred under his hands and turned her hand on her arms so that her face was next to him. Cameron smiled at her and brushed a light kiss on her cheek. "You need to get up. You're back is going to be hurting tomorrow if you stay sleeping on your desk. And you missed our date."

The last got a better response than the first. She blinked her eyes open wide and sat up straight. "I'm sorry, Cam. I didn't realize it was so late and I fell asleep," she had to stop talking when a yawn hit her. "I'm sorry," she finished, smiling slightly up to him.

"Hey, it's alright. You work hard at your job," Cameron said, grinning. Glancing over to Vala and Daniel he asked, "How are they doing?"

Carolyn Lam stood up, stretching the tight muscles in her back and walked over to where Daniel and Vala were sleeping. Glancing at the monitors she made notes on a chart she picked up. "They're doing fine. They started the night out as far apart as they could get from each other," she said with a slight smile. "I'll release them around lunch time."

Cameron nodded, standing behind Carolyn. Two of the beds hand been tied together to keep Daniel and Vala within the five feet limit of each other. In their sleep they had drifted closer together. Daniel had his arms wrapped around the dark hair woman, his chin resting on top of her head. Vala had tucked herself into the shelter of Daniel's arms; one arm slung over his waist the other hand clutching at the material of the blue shirt he wore. Cameron knew for a fact that Daniel had felt responsible for everything that had happened to Vala. And much as Daniel tried to deny it, Cameron knew that Daniel's guilt at losing Vala had to do with a lot more than his feelings of responsibility.

Cameron had long ago discovered that he was a fairly good at figuring out people. Their interest in each other had been plain to him when he had seen them together the first time. The Vala had demanded to know where _her_ Daniel was. Those clues as well as others had given him the information he needed to know that the two were attracted to each other, at the very least. The gradual and fragile friendship that had developed out of snarky comments and innuendos was all the evidence that Cameron had needed to know that the attraction was more than just physical.

"Come," he said finally, turning his attention to Carolyn. "I got us a bottle of wine and Chinese food."

* * *

Sleep began to lift its spell over Daniel gradually. He was reluctant to leave the peaceful space he had found in his sleep at last. But this time when he woke up, he could still feel Vala in his arms. It wasn't the lingering effect of a dream because he could still smell the shampoo she had used on her hair yesterday. He could feel her warm breath on his chest. It wasn't a dream. They had really found her and this brought a slight smile to his face before he had even opened his eyes. 

"Did you notice that their heartbeats match exactly?" Daniel recognized the speaker's voice as being Cameron Mitchell.

Daniel opened first one eye and then the other. Mitchell didn't notice that he was awake yet. Closing his eyes again Daniel curled his body around Vala, stretching out his muscles, wanting to wake the rest of his body up. The leg Vala had flung over his slid up around his hip when he moved, her hold on his tightening when he moved, as though in her sleep she were worried that he might leave. Daniel stifled a groan when he became aware of just the kind of effect waking up to the press of a warm female had on him.

Opening his eyes again, Daniel straightened out in the bed as best he could and not wake Vala up. "Welcome to the waking world, Jackson," Mitchell said.

"What time is it?" Daniel asked.

"A little after nine in the morning," the other man answered. "How you doing?"

"Other than wanting a decent up of coffee, I'm doing just fine." Trying to move back from Vala, he felt her tighten her hold again and sighed in defeat. "I'm apparently not going anywhere either," he added quietly, settling back down on the bed.

Mitchell grinned at Daniel's predicament. "Doc says she's going to let you two go early this afternoon. Here's to hoping Vala will be awake then, or you might get stuck here for a while longer." Glancing over his shoulder to make sure that there wasn't anyone close by Mitchell added, "The Mother is giving Landry an ear full I hear. She's had him locked in his office all morning."

Daniel frowned, trying to clear the sleep from his mind. "What about? I though she told us all she was willing to tell us the other day?"

"Yeah that's what I thought to. But according to Walter they've been arguing over some of the details we got from Khalek's brain activity and what it could mean about perfecting an anti-Prior weapon. You remember that weapon Carter has been working on?" Mitchell asked, when Daniel nodded he went on. "Well, she seems to think that the Drakins might be able to help her and Dr. Lee perfect it. The Matriarch is not willing to help."

"Why doesn't she want to help?" Daniel asked. "She has to understand that they'll send another Prior to her world eventually. They aren't just going to give up, if anything they are going to want to get the Drakins under their control more than they are going to want to get to Earth."

Mitchell nodded, agreeing with Daniel. "Yeah, that was the last thing Landry has shouted at the woman, according to Walter. She'd come back with the fact that they are a peaceful race of people who do not engage in warfare of any kind." Daniel considered this. It was reasonable; they had met other races that refused to fight, refused to offer violence of any kind. But his sleepy mind was amazed at just how fast gossip moved through the base.

"She's full of crap," Vala said in a groggy voice against Daniel's chest. She didn't add anything to her words, actually Daniel thought she had gone back to sleep. Tilting his head down, he couldn't see if her eyes were open. He could only see the top of her head.

Mitchell, however, was curious about what she had said. "What do you mean she's full of crap? It's reasonable to understand that some races don't participate in war."

"They fight wars," she answered, still not moving away from Daniel to look at Mitchell. "They just fight different kinds of wars than you or I." Once more she fell silent, as if going back to sleep. Her breathing was deep and even as if she had never spoken in the first place.

"Different kinds of war? You mean like biological verses nuclear?" Daniel's own confusion was reflected in Mitchell's face when they looked to each other as though hoping the other would understand what Vala was saying.

"I'm never going to get to go back to sleep am I?" Vala sighed. "I was with them for almost three months I am going to guess. They say they don't fight wars, they are lying. They don't fight physical, violent wars that can lead to physical harm or what we understand as death. But they still fight wars. They left their planet for a reason; they left the rest of their race for a reason. Did you wonder what was on the surface? Now, you two settle down I want to go back to sleep."

Mitchell stood up from his seat, getting ready to leave. "You get some more rest, Jackson. I have a stack of paper work calling my name."

* * *

The next time Daniel woke up, Dr. Lam was peering at the monitors set up, writing out some notes on the charts in her hands. He didn't even remember when he had drifted back to sleep, but he apparently had. "We free to go, Doc?" Daniel asked, stifling a yawn. 

"You two were free to go an hour ago, actually," Dr. Lam responded with a slight smile. "You both check out fine. So when Vala wakes up you guys can leave." Making a final notation on one of the charts in her hands she added before leaving, "General Landry wants to talk to the two of you were you are released."

Daniel watched the doctor retreat to the little space she had carved out of the room for a small office area. Daniel knew for a fact that she had a much larger one just down the hall, but remembered Janet complaining about the distance she had to travel to get from the infirmary to her office, and being unable to monitor her patients and still get work done. Smiling sadly at the memory of his lost friend Daniel turned his attention to the sleeping woman in his arms.

They hadn't moved since earlier that morning and Daniel's muscles felt stiff. He wanted out of the infirmary, and apparently to get out Vala had to be awake and ready to leave with him. If Landry wanted to see them that had to mean that he and the Matriarch had finished their shouting contest, and that Mitchell had probably gotten in to see him. He couldn't really think of a good reason for the summons otherwise. Daniel flexed the arm Vala had been using as a pillow, amazed that it hadn't gone numb. His other hand found her hip and gently shook her. "Vala, it's time to wake up."

He was awarded with a mumble of sound as she snuggled in closer to him. He didn't understand how she could sleep this much after being kept almost constantly in a sleep state for almost three months. Shaking her a little more forcefully, Daniel repeated, "Vala wake up."

"Why?" was the only response he got from her.

Daniel let out a suffering sigh. She just had to be difficult to wake up. He was betting that under normal circumstances she was not a morning person, never mind the special qualifications this time around. "Because you've been asleep for almost eighteen hours, it's time to get up."

"Not a good enough reason," she countered.

Daniel rolled his eyes at this. It was a damn good reason if he ever head one. "Because we're free to leave the infirmary?" He tried next.

"A bed is a bed. And it's quiet in here," was her muttered answer.

"How about because we are being summoned to Landry's office for a talk?" Daniel was getting frustrated now. He wanted his arm back, and he doubted that Vala would give it up if she weren't getting up as well. He also wasn't a hundred percent sure just how far he could get away from her today. Yesterday they couldn't be more than five feet apart. If the distance between them didn't lengthen, Daniel was certain they would end up in a screaming match of rumour proportions.

"Alright," Vala yawned, stretching her lithe body against his. Daniel mentally counted backwards from ten when she did this. He doubted that it was intentional, but then again he could never really be sure with Vala. But the feel of that feminine body moving against him was enough to arouse his long denied libido. When she rolled onto her back, Daniel took his arm back and sat up on the other side of the bed before she realized just the kind effect she had on him.

He was really hoping that he might be able to ship her off to the room she'd used the last time she was here tonight. As comforting as it could be to wake up and know that it hadn't all been a dream, that they had actually found her, Daniel did not want to have to constantly put up a battle with himself. Nor did he want to have to start off ever day with a cold shower.

There was an eerie sort of silence in the area surrounding Landry's office. Everyone was walking on egg shells not to disturb the General. Most people were making themselves scarce, taking longer routes to their destinations if the shorter way just happened to pass by Landry's office door. The man had been in a shouting match with a visiting alien for most of the morning, and whatever had passed between the two had put the man in command in foul mood. Walter glanced up when Daniel and Vala approached a look of relief on his face.

Punching the little button on his phone he announced, "Sir, Doctor Jackson and Vala MalDoran are here to see you."

"Send them in," Landry's disconnected voice answered harshly.

"Yes, sir." Standing, Walter moved out from behind his desk and opened the door for them. Waiting until they had gone in before firmly shutting the heavy door behind them, effectively barring them in with the General.

"Grab a seat," Landry offered, pouring two cups of coffee and producing a bottle of fruit juice for Vala. She didn't drink coffee, had actually made a face when she had first tried Daniel's favourite morning drink. It had amused him greatly at the time to see the faces she made while trying to ride the bitter taste from her mouth.

Daniel and Vala took the two empty chairs before the desk, accepting their drinks when he offered them. Vala leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs, while she took a sip of her fruit juice. Daniel had leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, one hand wrapped around his coffee mug. No one spoke for a few moments, Landry was studying the two of them and Vala and Daniel were waiting to discover why they had been summoned to his office.

"Tell me, Dr. Jackson, how would that marriage law they passed about ten years ago making any marriage by an off world ceremony hold with the current situation?" Landry asked, bringing his coffee mug to his mouth and sipping at the hot liquid.

Daniel hadn't been expecting this question. He had to think about it carefully, trying to remember the exact wording that had been used to pas the law, and what he had been told about it. But his thoughts were interrupted by Vala's questioning voice, "Why would you be asking Daniel about this? Shouldn't you be asking one of your legal representatives?"

She had addressed her question to General Landry, and the other man answered matter of factly, "Because the law was created and passed just for Dr. Jackson when he first returned from Abydos."

"Well then, the ceremony the Matriarch preformed is invalid as a marriage since you don't hold with multiple spouses," Vala said. "You have nothing to worry about."

Landry turned his attention to Daniel who was now staring into his cup of coffee. Vala got a funny feeling in her stomach, as though it were trying to sink while tying itself into knots. It was like blending guilt, remorse and sorrow together – it made for a queasy feeling. "My wife is dead," Daniel informed her is his driest voice. But she knew where that sick feeling in her stomach came from now. From Daniel thinking about his dead wife, which explained why she hadn't met the woman before. "And until all the stipulations of a ceremony are fulfilled it doesn't count as a legally binding marriage. It would be like trying to get married without saying 'I do.'"

Landry considered this, his gaze turned to Vala's face as she watched Daniel. Her reaction to Daniel being a widower was intriguing. The woman had rarely been shocked by much of anything when she had last been here. Landry also got the impression that she had been a little surprised that Jackson had been married before. He was glad that they weren't military. He took pride in being able to figure out people. And much as the two of them, especially Dr. Jackson, protested the possibility of a physical relationship developing, he could already see some serious hurdles for them. They would end up married, which was why he was glad they weren't military, he'd have to separate them then. And after the shouting match with the Matriarch, he knew he couldn't do that without causing them more problems.

"Very well," Landry said, setting down his coffee mug. "Vala, Colonel Mitchell informed me of what you said earlier this morning. We are sending the _Prometheus_ to have a look at the surface of the planet and make contact with those there. Also, he expressed a wish to have you become an official member of SG:1. For this to happen two things must take place. First, you have to accept the offer for the job…"

"And I do heartily accept," Vala answered, leaning forward slightly.

"Good, and secondly you must become a legal citizen of this country so we can give you a regular pay check," Landry finished.

"How do I do that?" Vala asked, looking between Landry and Daniel.

"Dr. Jackson can help you get the paper work put together. It would be simpler to get you a citizenship if you were married to Dr. Jackson. It'll just take a little longer to get the paper work through is all," Landry answered reassuringly. "Also the Matriarch informed me that you two will need to remain in close proximity to each other. Since technically you aren't married I cannot commandeer one of the larger suites for your use. So all I can offer you is the bunk in one of the barracks with the other men. Or you can come to some other arrangement between the two of you. Just let me know what your choice is by the end of the day and I expect to have a report from you Dr. Jackson tomorrow at noon and one from you Vala day after tomorrow. Dr. Jackson can show you how to write the reports."

Daniel knew the General's words to be final and dismissing and set his barely touched coffee on the desk before him, standing. Vala followed suite. "We'll let you know, sir."

Daniel hand his hand on the door knob when Landry added, "And while it may not be official, congratulations regardless."

Nodding their thanks, Daniel and Vala left Landry's office, shutting the door firmly behind them. They didn't look at each other as they made their way down the hall to elevators, they even kept an artificial distance between them. Daniel knew they had to talk. They had to figure out what they were going to do. They had to … Daniel didn't want to think about what they had to do. They could coast through today without much incident; there wouldn't be a problem with delaying the inevitable talk one day.

But there were other things that they had to deal with. Sleeping arrangements were one of those things. How was he supposed to start that conversation? He didn't want to sleep in the barracks, listening to the grunts and snores of the other military personel, never mind the rumours that would spread. But he didn't want to start every day with an ice bath either and sleeping next to Vala night after night, waking up with her warm body press to his day after day would slowly drive him crazy. Besides, what would she think if he suggested the barracks anyway? That he didn't want to be alone with her? Would she think he found her repulsive? He didn't, that was what was causing the most problems. He didn't find her repulsive, nor could keep a purely professional or "friendly" attitude around her if they shared a bed.

Maybe he could get one of the cots and bring it into the room. Same room, same space, different beds, but it would still raise the problems about why he would share a bed with her last night and refuse to do so tonight. Walking into the elevator, Daniel closed his eyes and leaned against the back wall. There was always the possibility that he was over thinking the situation. It was likely since he was constantly over analyzing most situations where women were concerned. But this was not a typical situation, nor was Vala a typical woman. She was different… she was special. But treating her differently could always blow up in his face too.

"Lunch?" Vala asked leaning against the back wall of the elevator next to Daniel. She was careful not to touch him. He seemed distracted and Vala wanted to drag him out of that distraction so he could distract her with meaningless conversation. She didn't want to think to hard about how she was going to tell him that she didn't want to sleep in a barracks full of sweaty, single minded, men, but that she also didn't want to share a bed with him again either.

Well the last was a lie. She did want to share a bed with him again. She just didn't think waking up aroused and about ready to jump him, willing or not, was a good idea. He wouldn't respect her if she even tried. He'd tossed her out of his room for using sex as defence mechanism, a tool, and a weapon. What kind of respect could he have for her in that regard? He'd think she was trying to manipulate him. And even if she did manage to catch him in a moment of weakness, the act would mean nothing to him, but it would mean something to her. She just didn't want to think about what it would mean.

"Lunch sounds great," Daniel answered.

"Do you know what the mess is serving today?" she asked. Maybe she could just sleep on the floor in his room? It would save them both from the barracks, and it would keep her from trying to have her way with him first thing in the mornings.

"I haven't the slightest clue, but I'm guessing whatever it is will taste a lot like chicken," Daniel offered. She remembered the jokes that had passed between them all about the food tasting like chicken. It had never failed to amuse her before, and she was grateful that Daniel was willing to try to have a normal conversation…even if what they were talking about was meaningless and mundane.


	10. Chapter 10: Like Polite Strangers

**Author's Note (warning, it's a long AN):** I know that it has been a while since I last updated this story, sorry about that. I spent three weeks with the family over Christmas time, which meant leaving my computer behind and actually spending time with those people this year. Frustrating as it was. But here is my update, a long chapter, which I have actually written about a dozen times. I couldn't settle on a version that I liked best so I used the best elements of each in creating this chapter. Let me know what you think. I might replace this chapter with something similar, since it is mostly just a filler chapter. The next one, I promise, will be far more interesting and will get back to the adventure plot for those of you who liked the idea of adding some romance to an adventure.

Thank you to all of you who sent in reviews, especially the newest reviewing reader this story has captured, The Noble French Fry. Your reviews mean a lot to me since they let me know where I am doing well, and even if most of you won't point out the flaws (aside from the editing) the bits you don't mention I already know are places for me to work on.

I also must congratulate a very persistent flamer who managed to find my e-mail address, even though it is not listed. You have officially been blocked for all my e-mail accounts and from posting reviews on for this story. Your actions have caused this turn of events and I am very sorry for that.

But back to the story, eh? Read, review, and most importantly, enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** Stargate: SG1 does not belong to me.

**Warnings:** There are some sexually references, though I have tried to keep them to an absolute minimum and still make it plausible. There may even be a few iffy phrases. Also, the formating might be a little off in some places. The internet is acting funny.

**

* * *

Chapter Ten: Like Polite Strangers **

He remembered the cots being larger than this one was. His feet were dangling off the end of low apparatus and he could feel the hard metal bar under the thin pillow pressing into the back of his head. It wasn't like he was overly tall to begin with. But then again, not having to spend weeks on end off world was as good as being pampered at the SGC. Day trips for SG1 were far more common now. Daniel had gotten to spend almost every night in a bed for the last handful of months. But tonight some noble side of him had offered Vala the bed, taking the cot, thin pillow, and even thinner blanket for himself. Of course, he wouldn't make Vala give up the bed. The apparently more noble aspect of himself was content to give it up. The newer, more possessive side of him wouldn't make Vala give up the bed either, but it resented not being able to share that warm and soft place of sleep with her.

Beyond his physical discomfort, Daniel was more concerned with Vala's mental state of well being than he was worried about her physical one, at least when it came to sleep. The conversation that had brought about this arrangement still worried him, even though Vala had insisted that everything was just fine. He didn't believe her when she had said it, and something told him that she was saying the words more to convince herself than she was trying to reassure him. He still didn't know what had triggered the panic that had flared like wild fire in her. He doubted that he would have even known she was panicking if it hadn't been for the bond the Matriarch and her Sisters had made between them.

He'd been writing his report for Landry in his office slash work room; Vala had been sprawled on his work table reading some book she had produced from somewhere. He remembered feeling strangely contented having her around. It usually distracted him to have another person in the room with him while he was trying to work. But the silence had been comfortable and the soft sound of turning pages had been almost soothing. The uneasy feeling had scratched at the back of his mind, growing slowly as he typed out his report. He was detailing the little he had learned about the Drakins and their Colony, which was nothing to become uneasy about, but that hadn't stilled the increasing sensation of what had become horror.

The panic had been like a slap in the face a heartbeat before Vala had rolled off his work table and demanded to know what kind of sleeping arrangements he wanted to make. The switch from their mutual avoidance for the topic had been an abrupt move and Daniel had responded carefully by asking what she wanted to do.

"_I don't want to sleep in the barracks with snoring strangers,"_ she had responded to the question. _"I don't want to be some place I don't feel safe."_

Daniel rubbed his face and stared up into the darkness. Something had spooked her. But she had dived right into getting things straightened out, at least for tonight, until the panic had eased. As they had talked he could feel it slowly slipping away, like the clamp that had been squeezing his chest was slowly being loosened with each word. She had wanted to face him rather than face whatever it was that had been causing the panic, Daniel realized that much. But she had refused to even acknowledge that something was wrong. He still couldn't figure out what had caused that kind of reaction in Vala. She had panic when she had gotten burnt alive, but not like this. It wasn't memories of the fire.

He just didn't understand.

And he wanted to.

Badly.

But he couldn't understand what was wrong if she wouldn't trust him with it. And that was something else completely. Vala had proven to all of them that she could be trusted. She had proven it to him more than anyone else. But he hadn't proven that she could trust him back. Yes, he had found her treasure for her when she had first come. Yes, he had tried to save her from the fire, but it had been a Prior that had brought her back. He had only been able to cradle her chard body against his, regretful. That memory haunted him. Not as badly as the memory of watching her burn did, but in some ways worse.

After that he'd tried to get rid of her. He called her a liar, a cheat, a thief. And while the last was her profession he hadn't had the right to call her the first two. He hadn't known enough about her to even make those judgements even if she had lied to him constantly when she had attempted to steal the _Prometheus -_ he hadn't given her a second chance. Then he'd used her, for the greater good of her own people, but he had still used her. While she hadn't been executed, he had helped hand over her village, the last place she could call a safe haven, to the Priors of the Ori.

Then he had ignored her, all but pushing her aside, when the Ori had begun constructing their beachhead. He'd taken her with him because he wasn't willing to risk himself, not because he thought that she would be much use on the trip or on the mission. But she had been more useful that all of them put together. Vala had gotten herself onto the cloaked cargo ship and broken the link that held all the pieces of the super gate together. She'd done what none of them had thought to do.

What had he done for her?

All he had wanted to do before she had disappeared was get ride of her. And when the some what hostile relationship had turned into a fragile friendship Daniel had valued it… right up until Sam had come back. Then he had all but shoved her off to the side again. What kind of person did that make him? Even now he couldn't identify the reason _why_ he had done it. He just had, be it out of fear of what could be, or not wanting to invest himself in someone he saw as only a temporary part of his life, he didn't know.

A shout from the bed dragged him out of his darkening thoughts. Vala had bolted up into a sitting position in the same instant Daniel had sat up and swung his feet to the floor. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts he hadn't heard the telling sounds of Vala's nightmare. Her breathing was laboured and he could hear the faint sounds of crying, as though she had woken up sobbing. But she didn't make any other sound, didn't move from where she sat on his bed.

"Vala?" he made her name a question. He didn't know if he should go to her or just let her sort out whatever her nightmare had been on her own. What he wanted to do was go over and comfort her, but he didn't know if she wanted that comfort or not.

Vala looked up to where the sound of Daniel's voice had come from. The questioning tone of his voice reached into her, tugged at something she understood. That uncertainty of how welcome he was at the moment. "I can still hear the children screaming," she said in a small voice, barely above a whisper. "They burned to death because of me."

Daniel walked over to the bed carefully in the darkened room, sitting near her but far enough away to let her have the space she might need. "I couldn't help them, Daniel. They were all killed because they had sheltered me, given me a place to live. They had shown me nothing but kindness, and because of me they died." Daniel's heart ached for her. He couldn't hear the tears in her voice anymore, but he could hear the sound of her breaking on the inside. Moving to the head of the bed Daniel reached over to Vala, bring her to him.

Vala didn't collapse against him in violent sobs. She didn't cling to him and weep. She didn't pound her anguish against his chest. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, leaning her head on his shoulder and accepted the comfort he offered her. She cried quietly, silently grieving. The only sound that betrayed her noiseless sobs was the occasional sniffle. But Daniel could feel each tear that soaked into the shirt he had worn to bed. He knew she was grieving for more than what had happened when she had ended up in the Ori's galaxy. Daniel doubted that she had ever really let herself cry over everything that had happened to her through her life. But now he would give her the chance to do so.

* * *

Vala had no idea how much time had passed since she had woken up from her nightmare. It was like there was no such thing as time in the dark, in Daniel's arms. She had cried every tear she had to shed and then she had cried more. Daniel hadn't tried to stop those tears; he'd wordlessly given her the support she had needed, giving her a safe place to finally grieve for her losses. She had long ago accepted her fate at the hands of the Gou'ald and the loss of the life that had come before that event. She even understood why she'd been attacked and tortured for what the parasite had done. Most of her tears were for the village she had lost to the Ori, the people she had tried to save, and the family that had been killed for taking her in and giving her a home. 

With the tears gone she felt empty inside. There was no pain, no fear, no sorrow or anguish or horror, there was just a vast emptiness where it had all been. The feeling wouldn't last forever, but for the moment it was good enough. She would always be haunted the memories of the children she had become so fond of. But for them she could move on. She could build a life for herself, here on Earth. She could at least make their deaths have some meaning, even though she would give up her own life to give them back theirs.

Daniel shifted slightly against the headboard of the bed, trying to get into more comfortable position. But his slight movement jerked Vala out of her melancholic thoughts. "You'll get a crick in your neck sleeping like that," Vala told him. Even to her own ears her voice sounded hallow and tired. Extracting herself from Daniel's hold, Vala moved off him and further onto the bed. "Lie down and get some sleep," she added.

Daniel was a little puzzled, but didn't argue with Vala. There was something almost fragile about her now that she had emptied herself of all the held in tears. He remembered how she had taken his rejection before, and she hadn't been in this kind of state then. And even if most of her reaction had been false, part of it had been real. Getting up, Daniel pulled back the covers as Vala slid a pillow over for him. Daniel pulled his t-shirt off before getting back on the bed. The blankets he kept on the bed were heavy enough to keep him warm in the middle of winter without any heat. Adding more layers would only make him roast under the covers.

Vala had settled herself at the opposite end of the bed from him, curled up into a ball with the covers pulled tight. She had her back turned to him, as though not wanting to face him or share the bed with him really. Daniel tried to mimic her choice for space, lying near to the edge of the bed on his side. But every time he tired to get a little blanket Vala tugged back, leaving him with nothing but his pillow to sleep with. It was a frustrating struggle, he'd gain some blanket and have it taken away, and then he'd move closer to the center of the bed and take some more blanket only to have it ripped from his grasp as well.

Daniel was used to sleeping in some rather harsh conditions, from rocky ground to boiling desert heat to arctic cold. But this, this blanket theft was just a horrible form of torture. "Blanket hog," Daniel muttered under his breath reaching over to snag the edge of one of the blankets to cover himself with.

"Am not," Vala returned in an equally soft voice. "I'm cold."

She was cold! Daniel thought. She was bundled under five heavy blankets! All he had to keep him warm was his t-shirt which was laying somewhere on the floor in the dark room. When Vala tugged back the little cover Daniel had managed to retrieve he took in a deep breath, centering himself. The only thing that annoyed him most in a bed partner was a blanket hog. Vala could conquer the bed and leave him with only a little corner, or take all the pillows, he wouldn't mind in the least, as long as she shared the blankets. When he was left with no blankets yet again Daniel silently declared war, a rather desperate war at that. He couldn't sleep without at least being covered with even just a thin blanket and he wanted sleep.

Rolling onto his side, Daniel lifted the covers that surrounded Vala in a small mound and reached under them to slide his arm around her waist. When he had a firm enough grip he dragged her across the bed towards him, bringing the blankets with her. She gave a soft, surprised sound when he did this and she stiffened against him for only a moment before relaxing. But she did demand, "What are you doing?" in a hushed voice as though afraid to wake someone up.

"Going to sleep," Daniel stated flatly as he spooned his body around hers, dragging the covers up to his neck. By morning they'd probably be kicked around his feet, but when he went to sleep they started up at his neck. Wrapping his arm back around Vala's waist Daniel tucked his head against the back of her neck and settled in to sleep. This way, he reasoned, he would get to keep his covers and Vala would be able to take the comfort he was offering. Not to mention the body heat to keep her warm.

Daniel was asleep almost instantly.

Vala, however, took longer to find solace in her dreams again. But eventually she fell into a dreamless state of rest, having been lulled by the steady rhythm of Daniel's heart against her back. When she woke up in the morning, they had moved in their sleep so that she woke up to the same steady rhythm of Daniel's heart beating under her ear.

* * *

Breakfast had been more awkward than their late lunch the other day, Daniel decided as he rounded the corner into the makeshift basketball court. They had hardly spoken to each other from the moment they had gotten up and then had gone their separate ways. Vala had said she had some things she wanted to get done and Daniel was supposed to meet Mitchell for another one-on-one game of basketball. It had become an almost weekly event that Daniel didn't see the point in stopping now that Vala was back, if anything, after the state he had woken up in, he wanted the physical activity. 

When Mitchell arrived Daniel was greeted with a cheerful, "So how's married life, Jackson?"

Daniel caught the basketball that was bounced to him and the game began. Daniel didn't even hesitate in answering Mitchell's question however. It wasn't like there were that many people he could honestly express his frustrations to. Mitchell was more like a concerned friend at moments like these, someone Daniel could actually talk to. "Frustrating," Daniel answered and side stepped Mitchell in an attempt to reach the portable hoop. "She treats me like a stranger," Daniel added, taking a shot and missing.

Mitchell considered Daniel's response before he spoke again. "Maybe she's just sort of freaked to find herself mostly married," he offered as he stole the ball from Daniel. "You really think Vala would have gotten herself hitched to _anyone_ of her own violation before all this?"

"No." Daniel didn't even have to think about that answer. Vala was never in one place long enough to make any kind of lasting attachments. She lived a solitary life with all her moving about. "But I don't think it's the 'almost married part' that's the problem," Daniel began blocking Mitchell's attempt to shot. "She hasn't made one pass on me or anyone else."

"Oh, I don't know, Jackson," Mitchell offered, snatching the rebound. "I think offering to kiss that kick to the groin better would count as a pass."

Daniel stopped trying to block Mitchell when he said that. Resting his hands on his knees and taking in a deep breath Daniel decided to use the ammunition Mitchell had just offered on a silver platter. The other man hadn't been in the infirmary when Vala had said that. The only people he could've learned that from were the two nurses that had been trying to hold Vala down, the Drakins, their escorts, and Dr. Carolyn Lam. Since the security detail rarely gossiped outside of their own circles and the Drakins weren't even part of the established rumour mill at the SGC, Daniel was putting his money on the good doctor.

"That's gotta be a tight spot you're in," Daniel said when Mitchell checked him the ball. The other man only raised an eyebrow at Daniel's comment when he got the ball back. Daniel didn't answer that silent question right away, concentrating on getting the ball from Mitchell instead. They scuttled about the floor, Mitchell attempting to get a clear shot at the basket and Daniel trying to get the ball from Mitchell to make a shot at the basket. "Getting involved with a General's daughter has gotta be bad enough," Daniel said, reaching around Mitchell to bound the ball out of his hands. "Getting involved with a woman who's your superior's daughter and a General's daughter has got to be a tight little space."

Mitchell fumbled in his attempted break away and Daniel gained possession of the ball and made a shot of the basket. Both men watched the ball circle the hoop twice before it fell in. "How?" was the only word Mitchell could force past his lips. He and Carolyn had been careful to make sure no one found out. Neither of them wanted have their budding relationship common knowledge as it filtered through the gossips and rumourmongers.

"You're overly protective, possessive, and every time you end up in the same room as her it's almost everything you can do to keep from touching her." Daniel retrieved the ball that had rolled towards the large doors. When he turned back to see Mitchell's slightly confused expression Daniel added as explanation, "Only about five percent of all communication is verbal in nature. The rest is all body language, facial expressions and so on."

Daniel checked the ball to Mitchell. "Landry already knows."

"Why do you say that?" Mitchell asked as he checked the ball back to Daniel.

Daniel laughed. "You telling me that if you had a daughter that looked like Dr. Lam does you wouldn't keep a hawk's eye on the men that come in contact with her? Especially the military types?"

Mitchell laughed at that, and the game went on.

* * *

Meanwhile, Vala had gone in search of Samantha Carter. The last time she had been here, she had learned that Daniel's closest friends were Samantha Carter, Teal'c, and a man named Jack O'Neil. They were the closest thing Daniel had to a family, one rumour had said, though she still didn't completely understand how that could be. Daniel struck her as a very family oriented man, someone who would keep in contact with his parents and siblings. People saying that his friends were the closet thing he had to a family brought up more questions about Daniel. 

Vala almost ran into Sam as she was leaving her office. Both had been preoccupied with their own thoughts and actions to notice the one leaving the room and the one trying to get in. They both took a step back in surprise. It was Sam who spoke first. "Can I help you?" Sam didn't know how to act around Vala. Getting her back had brought the small nagging guilt she had felt about playing a part in her disappearance.

"I was looking for you, actually," Vala answered.

Both women were on their guard, but for very different reasons. Sam because that little guilty voice had gotten louder, and Vala because Daniel had all but thrown her to the wayside when Sam had come back into the picture. Neither knew how to act around the other. Silence stretched between them for a moment while they both warily assessed each other, trying to figure out a way to deal with the awkward situation created between them.

"Oh?" Sam said finally. "Why are you looking for me?" Sam started down the hall and Vala fell instep with her.

"Because of everyone on this base you can probably explain to me why Daniel is treating me like a complete stranger," Vala answered her. She stopped walking when Sam stopped in the middle of the hall, her mouth hanging open just slightly.

She seemed to collect herself rather quickly and they started walking again. "I'm going to scatter some nosy personnel from an observation room above the basketball court you guys set up the last time you were here." Sam didn't know how to answer Vala's statement about Daniel treating her like a stranger. Daniel rarely treated anyone with less that friendly respect; Vala had been the exception to the rule, as had only a small handful of others.

They were in the elevator when Sam finally had something to offer. "You and Daniel are just this side of being married according to our laws. After he lost Sha're I don't think Daniel ever expected to get married again. That might be what has him acting so distantly." It was the best that Sam could offer; it was also all she would really offer about Daniel. Sam knew Daniel would get upset if she just told Vala everything. It wasn't for Sam to tell her.

The elevator doors slid open and they stepped into the empty hallway. Sam turned, grabbing Vala's arm to get her attention. "Listen, Vala. If you want to know something about Daniel, the best person to ask is Daniel. All you really need to know is that after Sha're was taken Daniel went through hell trying to get her back. When she died it nearly destroyed Daniel. Daniel lost a lot since then. We've lost him more times than we should have. Daniel has seen and done enough to have the right to share his secrets with the people he chooses. Give him enough respect to start looking for answers from him first before you start digging those answers from other people."

Vala and Sam stared at each other for a minute, blue and grey eyes engaged in a small battle. Sam was resolved, but she knew that in this case, this very special case, if Vala really pushed, Sam would tell her what she wanted to know. Something told her that Vala would make Daniel happy. And Daniel could be very stubborn sometimes, Sam knew. But Vala backed down first, turning her glance instead to the hand that was wrapped around her forearm.

Sam released her and continued walking down the hall. "Daniel and Cameron play basketball once a week down here," Sam said more to fill the silence than to really pass on information to Vala. The sound of male laughter and a basketball hitting the floor grew louder the further down the hall they got. Opening a door, Sam walked up a small flight of stairs, Vala trailing behind her. As the door shut behind them, Vala could now hear the sounds of feminine laughter filtering down the stairs from behind another closed door. Samantha Carter jerked the door open and the laughter stopped abruptly. Even the newest recruit to the SGC knew who SG1 was. "Out. Back to work," Sam ordered. Silently the group of females filtered out of the room behind that door.

Vala put her back to wall, letting them all pass before she went up the last few stairs and into the room Sam had entered. The room wasn't very large and Vala was surprised that so many women had managed to fit in there. Vala looked down into the basketball court and watched the one-on-one game Mitchell and Daniel were playing. It was a sight to see. And while Vala could easily admit that Daniel and Mitchell were both equally attractive, she had eyes only for Daniel. For the quick smirk that crossed his face, the abrupt laughter at something Mitchell had said.

She wished she could hear what they were saying. Daniel looked as though he were enjoying himself greatly. Sam's words came back to her, about talking to Daniel first about Daniel, and Vala decided that it was better that she couldn't hear what they were saying. She could watch them; she could watch him be happy even if he seemed distant when he was with her. She didn't need to hear what they were saying to see the friendship, the trust, between them.

She smiled when Daniel managed to sweep the ball out of Mitchell's grasp and into the basket. And she laughed when Daniel did a little victory dance, apparently having won the match.

Vala didn't hear Sam leave the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So let me know what you think of this chapter. Like I said at the beginning, this is mostly just a filler and maybe replaced by something similar - something that doesn't look so cut & past in my reading. Constructive comments are very welcome at this point, but I hope you have enjoyed the tale so far. 


	11. Chapter 11: The Letter

**Author's Note:** Well here is another chapter! And it's longer than all of the other ones too! This one took a little time to put together, and the way I had planned for it, it was supposed to be much longer too, but I ended it where I did because it just seemed right. Actually it felt like a right place to end the chapter. Thank you all for your reviews, and while I do seem to constantly be asking you all to point out the flaws in my writing it's because those are the places that I need to work on the most. It is, in a way, a need for perfection, but that is because I don't want to write some crap fan fiction that falls far below my own standards for my original writings. This is the same as an original piece, only I am writing with previously established characters that I didn't create, set in a world whose rules and norms I had no say in. It's the challenge I like, and since I (like a lot of people on this site) am an aspiring writer, I need to know that my writing can be flexible enough to fit into another persons constructs.

Also as a side note, my dearly beloved editors have upped and quit on me. So this piece has not been edited by anyone but me. I am now in the market for beta(s)/editors. If there is anyone interested in such a challenging job (consider my rather basic grammatical mistakes in places, and my often use of the wrong word), please drop a line in a PM or in a review. I'll be eternally grateful to anyone willing to take on the job.

**Disclaimer:** Stargate SG1 doesn't belong to me, please let the lawyers rest, I haven't any money to spare after I pay tuition.

**Warnings:** There is sexual content, not much and nothing explicit either. It's written to be humours, though I don't know if you, my dear reader, will understand my sense of humour. I found it funny when I was writing it.

Now, I want you sit back, relax, read, and review. But most importantly…

_Enjoy!_

**

* * *

Chapter Eleven: The Letter **

"I have just been informed by the joint chiefs and the international committee that they want us to gain the cooperation of the Drakins in the production of a functional weapon against the Priors," General Landry announced to those gathered in his office. He'd called them into his office to prevent their visitors from becoming suspicious of their actions, as well as to keep the rumours to the absolute minimum. There were very few kept secrets at Stargate Command; Landry wanted this meeting to be one of those few secrets that remained secret. "As far as I understand what they were telling me they believe that the Drakins will be exactly what is needed to complete your suggested design, Colonel Carter."

"They might be, sir," Sam started. "But they made it very clear to us the other day that they didn't want to have anything to do with the creation of a weapon. They don't believe that they have any reason to become involved in this fight." Sam looked to the others gathered in the office as if for confirmation of her words, but she didn't need it.

"We were rather forcefully told that they don't fight in any war, sir," Mitchell chimed in.

"And I told you before, that's a load of crap," Vala added. "They fight wars just not the same kinds of wars that you fight."

Daniel looked to the dark haired woman leaning against the wall next to him. The way she had spoken those words gave him pause. It was almost as though Vala knew something they didn't about their strange guests. "And just how do you know this, Vala?" Landry questioned. There was a small sense of relief for Daniel to know that he wasn't going to be the one to pick this particular fight. Though, in a way, he wished he'd spoken sooner, maybe then she might open up to him later if she knew that he wanted to know what had happened to her. That it ate him up inside not knowing because he felt responsible for a host of pains and injuries that his imagination created for him to think about.

"I don't know how I know," Vala answered finally. "I was with them for about three months. I was almost completely under their control for most of that time. It was like being a deep shadow in the back of a million minds. I could catch bits and pieces of what they thought, what they remembered, and what they did. They fight wars, General. But like I said, they aren't the same kinds of wars that we would fight.

"They aren't physical and bloody, not outwardly anyway. It's more like a battle of wills and wits. It's an almost constant mental struggle with their enemies." Vala was looking at the floor before her feet while she spoke, her arms crossed before her. She looked so closed off, as though she could lock out whatever it was she was remembering. Daniel wanted to put an arm around her, shelter her from something that he couldn't see, something that he could never really fight for her. "They left their home and moved to that cavernous moon, they left for a reason. I know they left for a reason, a very terrible and bloody reason."

There was silence for the moment, everyone centering themselves in their own thoughts. But Daniel's were torn. One part of his mind was trying to think of ways that they might be able to get the Drakins to help them, the other part of his mind was almost…reaching out to Vala as though he could comfort her that way, or find out what was wrong. Because something was wrong, she just wouldn't open up to him. She didn't trust him enough to open up to him. This was a circular argument in his mind; it was his own fault that she didn't trust him.

"Regardless," Landry spoke finally. "They want you to try and gain their confidence and eventual cooperation anyway you are able to get it. And I suggest you find a way. The joint chiefs were hinting that we didn't really need them alive or cooperative to get what we need."

* * *

"I still think we might have an easier chance talking them into helping us if we had Teal'c here with us," Mitchell was saying as the group finished off breakfast. "He's the best we have for proving that we are capable of overthrowing false gods, and that such things do exist." Using the last of his toast, Mitchell tried to pick up the run off from his eggs, cleaning off the plate in true military training style. "So what kind of attack plan are we going to use when we talk with them?" 

"I don't think there will be any 'attack plan' that we can use to get the Matriarch on our side for this one," Daniel offered. "They are a self professed non-violent people. I don't think that they will ever agree to help us make a weapon of any kind." The coffee in his mug was a little on the cool side, but the bitter brew was still wonderful to taste. "We've seen it before. If they really don't want to help us in a fight, they aren't going to help us at all."

"But they value every life," Vala put in, scooping out the last of the porridge in her bowl. "Do you really think they'll just let us blunder about until we get all the bugs out of a weapon? That would cost more lives than necessary than if they just helped us from the start."

"That's certainly a different take on the subject," Sam offered. Daniel had been watching the uneasy interactions between the two women. "And it is true. If they can help us it means that more lives can be saved in the process. We'll lose less people in the trial and error stages."

Daniel shook his head and leaned forward, sliding his empty coffee mug across the table to sit next to his empty plate. "But they value _every_ life, Sam. The Priors would fall under the category of _every_ to the Drakins I think. But they are also so adamant that they not get involved with this fight. I think they are content to remain in their cave filled moon, unknown to the rest of the galaxy."

"But that's the problem, isn't it?" Vala asked. "They aren't unknown anymore. We know about them. The Priors know about them. It's only a matter of time before they send more through the stargate after them. They are going to want to get the Drakins under their thumb more than they wanted to get the Jaffa nation on their side." Vala looked at them all, meeting each of their eyes before she went on. "Don't you understand? The Drakins are more advanced than the Priors are. They are a threat to the Ori. And if they can be brought on to their side, then they become a threat equal to that of the Priors. Maybe more so."

She was so sure of what she said, certain in her claims, firmly believing in every word she said. She knew what she said to be true. She may not really remember much of anything about her time with the Drakins before Daniel came to get her, but there were little things that she just _knew_ and this was one of those things. She was certain of what she said, but under it all was a small current of fear. A little voice wondering _but what if we can't convince them to help us?_ When she looked at Daniel she could see that same little voice whispering to him too.

**

* * *

**The corridor where the Drakins were being roomed was now dimly lit, to allow the light sensitive Drakins to move freely between the rooms they were housed in. They had basically gotten the presidential suites with bunk beds. But they were comfortable, and lit as they were in minimal candle light they felt inviting instead of stark and plain. The SGC hadn't been able to get their hands on light bulbs that were faint enough to accommodate the light sensitivity. Instead, Landry had ordered a number of new recruits to hit up the local stores - buying out their candle stocks. 

"Welcome," the Matriarch announced when she saw who their visitors were. She seemed honestly glad to see them. Daniel couldn't really blame her for that since the only other time he knew she left these rooms was the day after she had bound Vala and him together. It could get very dull just sitting around a room with nothing of great importance to do. Daniel remembered doing that the last time he had descended and had been trying to remember his own past from the few keepsakes that Jack, Sam, and Teal'c hadn't gotten rid of. It had been a rough time for him, but when he wasn't struggling to recall a life he didn't even know he'd had, it had been rather boring to be left in an unfamiliar room.

"Hi, Mother," Mitchell said, taking a seat when she waved them to sit down. He still wasn't very comfortable with calling some stranger such an informal and familial name. All of the Drakins were in the room. The women had been in one corner, sitting on the floor cross legged facing each other when they had entered. The men had apparently been lounging about the room while the women did whatever it was they were doing.

"The quarters that have been arranged for us are very comfortable," the Matriarch offered sociably. Daniel glanced at the woman when she said that, losing interest in what they had been doing before hand simply because it seemed like such an odd statement for her to make. When Daniel had first met her, she seemed like the no-nonsense type of woman, not someone who would offer pleasantries as she just had. Even Vala had noticed this, Daniel saw from the corner of his eye.

"We're glad you like them," Daniel offered, smiling to the veiled woman.

"You find Mother's words surprising," one of the Sisters spoke.

Daniel gave a very slight, involuntary shudder. It disturbed him that these people could pick up on his thoughts, even if it was just the surface ones. "Yes," he answered, speaking to the Matriarch. "You don't strike me as someone who does small talk."

"Small talk? I do not understand what this means."

"Small talk… light conversation," Daniel struggled. "Talking about things that are of no real importance or significance. Sometimes we call them it pleasantries." Daniel was mentally kicking himself for his inadequate answers. He was a linguist, he should be able to communicate better than this, but he was finding it difficult without a base reference for their language to guide him. The few words they had given them didn't have any relation to any language he already spoke or knew of.

"I understand now, but your frustration is a puzzle," the Mother's sandy voice toned. "You believe that it should be easy to communicate with us and it frustrates you that you are unable to express yourself appropriately. Why?"

"Because I'm a linguist," Daniel answered, some of his frustration coming through in his voice. "It's part of my job to learn new languages and communicate with people from different cultures. Part of what is so frustrating is that I don't know your language, and from the few words that you've spoken to us I can't think of a single parent language or even a common base with any of the other languages that I already know."

"But you already know our language," a Sister said approaching the group sitting around the table with the Matriarch. She stood behind the Matriarch, not taking a seat. "When the ceremony was preformed, you understood what Mother ways saying, yes?"

"Well, yes," Daniel began. "But you were in my mind helping Vala and I tie off the bond."

"Yes, I was," the Sister answered. "But you did no gain your understanding of the words spoken through me. You understood those words because you already knew the language. You cause yourself distress for no reason."

Mitchell leaned forward in his chair, hands clasped on the table before him. "And how would Jackson already know your language if he's never heard it before?" They had to start their conversation somewhere, Mitchell surmised, and this was a better start than some he could think of.

"Because our language is older than time. Every living creature knows the language we speak. All they must do is listen to what is being said, it is in the mind to understand what is being said. It is the same words that began creation," she explained. "We speak more in thoughts and vibrations than we do with words. And while your species cannot speak the same language you are capable of understanding it because of the connections that all living things have to one another."

Vala rolled her eyes, and in the dimly lit room no one but the Drakins could see her do this. It was the religious mumbo-jumbo that was coming from the woman's mouth. _The words that began creation_, she snorted out in her mind. It was just as much crap as their proclamation that they didn't fight wars. She could reasonably believe in the interconnectedness of all things, everything was made up of the same kinds of atoms and energy. But the belief that there the universe had be brought into being by a few spoken words was just beyond her. It sounded too much like the Priors claims that the Ori had created humans – just so much bullshit.

Sam spoke before Vala was able to even summon up the scornful words she wanted to speak. "Actually, we came here to talk to you about that universal connection." Sam looked to the others; Mitchell and Daniel were waiting for her to go on, to bring the conversation around the topic that they had been sent there to discuss. Vala gave her a dark look before she seemed to suck in the disdainful look. "Our people want to know if you would be willing to help us finish and perfect the tool we are creating to help us fight against the Priors that the Ori send to our galaxy." Sam's words were straight to the point, no beating around the bush.

"No." The Matriarch's answer was just as abrupt and straightforward.

"You understand that the Prior that they sent to your people won't be the last, don't you?" Mitchell asked. "They are just going to keep sending more and more until they either convert you to their way of thinking or destroy you."

"We will deal with them as they come," the Matriarch answered flatly.

"And what are you going to do with them, Mother?" Mitchell asked. "Keep destroying them all by putting your colony at risk each and every time?"

"We will not be brought into your wars," Bendi answered harshly. "Why is this so difficult for you to grasp?"

"It's not," Sam answered quickly. "But what happens next time you try to use the connective mind of your colony? What if you can't force them all to remain open to each other?" Sam looked to the veiled face of the Matriarch and her two Sisters standing behind her. "You said it yourself. It nearly destroyed your colony when you killed the Prior. What do you think is going to happen next time? Or the time after that?

"They're going to eventually close themselves off to you because they'll know what you are going to do and won't want to help. It'll destroy your colony just as surely as the Priors will. By helping us make a weapon you probably wouldn't have to risk the… soul of your people. You wouldn't have to force them to live through the destruction of another life."

There was a still silence when Sam stopped talking. Everyone seemed to be considering her words carefully, but Vala could see they were going to refuse to help, again. "You're a threat to them. If they can't control you, they will do whatever is necessary to destroy you and all of your people. And if you jut give into them, they'll force you to do things that are far worse than what we are asking you to help us do."

Even under the veils covering her face, Vala watched, amazed, as the thin woman seemed to grow even thinner. It was like she was slowly fading away right before her eyes until Bendi placed his hand on the Matriarch's shoulder. Closing her mismatched eyes, Vala watched as the woman seemed to draw strength from her guards touch. "We must consider this," she answered softly.

Daniel hesitated only a heartbeat before he added gently, "While you're considering, maybe you might want to see what we're asking you to help us fight. There are a number of worlds that have already been converted and some that are being approached." When all he got was a steady look for an answer Daniel sucked in a deep breath. "You're a healer. You might be able to help the people that the Priors are killing with plagues and illnesses for their refusal to follow Origin."

"They are destroying those that do not wish to follow these Ori?" the Matriarch asked, appalled.

"Yes," Mitchell stated flatly. "They either kill them with an aggressive illness and spreads after than wildfire or they send some of their new, devoted followers to slaughter them."

"And you believe that we can help them?"

"Probably," Mitchell said. "Then again you might become infected too. All we know about the plagues is that it starts with the Priors DNA and mutates into this supper bug that ends up wiping out every person that catches it unless they agree to follow the Priors. Then the Priors 'heal' them."

"They are using the connective links between peoples to fashion these illnesses," the Matriarch answered. "Much as we do when we try to heal illness and injury. We will have to come in contact with those that carry the illness to know if we can help them or not." The Matriarch closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "I will need to return back to the Colony to discuss the … situation with my Brethren and other Sisters. I will leave Bendi and Kessu here, if this is acceptable to show that I will return with an answer either way. Kessu is one the best healers in the Colony aside from myself. If you can educate her on what exactly the illness that these Priors are using she may be able to discover a solution before my return."

Mitchell, Sam, Daniel, and Vala nodded their understanding and everyone rose to leave. They had reached the door when the Matriarch called to them, "Daniel Jackson, Vala MalDoran, would you remain a moment. There are things we must discuss before I return to the Colony."

**

* * *

**

She looked weary and tired, Daniel noted as he and Vala took their seats again. The Matriarch studied them both for a moment, an eerie silence filling the room. But the silence didn't last very long, nor did the Matriarch's study of them. Sighing, she broke eye contact and asked them, "I must ask how you are managing with bond that was forged between you."

Daniel and Vala looked at each other. How were they dealing with their bond? They weren't, and both saw the reason why that was differently. Vala didn't know how she was supposed to be managing this bond when Daniel wouldn't even have a normal conversation with her. He hadn't been willing to exchange serious words with her since he had found her and assured her that everything was very real. Or more pointedly, Vala thought back, since he'd pinned her against the wall in the bath room and left her head spinning from a rather heated kiss. It was back to his low opinion of her and questionable sexual history, Vala thought. He couldn't take her seriously as a person because she was attracted to him and he assumed that he'd be just another conquest to her.

Daniel was just as bewildered about how he was supposed to be coping with their bond when Vala wouldn't open up with him. She stuck with meaningless topics of conversation when they did speak to one another. It was frustrating that she didn't trust him, but Daniel didn't blame her for that, not after some of the things he had done to her. But he had tried to gain her trust again. He'd been respectful to her silence about what had happened to her in the Ori galaxy, even though horrendous thoughts of what might have happened kept dancing their way through his mind. He didn't know how to prove to her that she could trust him, didn't even know where to begin. So how could he be dealing with their bond when she wouldn't even open up?

The soft sigh of the Matriarch, was like sandy being swept up by a gentle breeze in the desert, and was just as dry. "You have avoided one another in a foolish attempt to spare yourself. You are making yourselves miserable in the process because of your inability and unwillingness to communicate with one another," the Matriarch announced in an exasperated tone. "You have both discovered that you are able to feel the stronger emotions of the other?"

Both Vala and Daniel nodded, slightly puzzled.

"Then you must feel one another's unhappiness and distress. If one of a pair is unhappy in anyway than so is the other. But you must learn to separate your own discontent from the others. And you must complete the bonding, or no matter how content both of you are the everyday world will begin to lose its _damankt_… its colour, vibrancy.

"The completion of the bond will relieve the stress that is slowly building and will forge a much more complete union. Natural instinct for this matter should already have taken hold. You are both too stubborn to see what needs to be done to provide relief from a growing despondency that can only be eased by physical closeness," she tried to explain.

Daniel stopped her when he said, "We've already told you that we'll cross that bridge when we come to it-"

"Yes, and I am now telling you, that when you reach your bridge it may not be in a manner that either of you wish," the Matriarch interrupted. "I did not realize how stubborn you species could be in this matter and so am now warning you. If you avoid this particular crossing long enough your own natural instincts and baser drives will grow slowly more prominent. Physical closeness, proximity will help delay such an event but it will not last forever." Closing her eyes, the Matriarch rubbed at her temple, thus missing the very bristling look Vala gave her. "If you refuse to consummate this bond or you dither on the edge of you bridge you will become depressed and grief stricken for no reason. Then you will begin to fade from your own personalities. You will eventually become a simple shadow of the person you once were and no amount of mating will ever bring you back to yourselves."

Vala had a biting remark sitting on the tip of her tongue and had been ready to deliver it until the Matriarch had said the last. They would fade from their own personalities she said. It was like being told she ha to complete the bond or Daniel would die all over again. She wouldn't let his die then, and she wasn't going to let him 'fade' from himself either. She didn't think that she could stand to watch Daniel become a husk of what he was. He had such a passion of discovery, an excitement that belonged more to child when it came to something new and interesting. Even if that new and interesting thing was a crumbling rock from some lost civilization. He was idealistic, kind, noble, and had a sharp enough mind to exchange witty comments with her and still keep her interested. If were to suddenly become some being that only existed, if he lost that excitement, that child-like amazement with the world, he wouldn't be Daniel. And where would that leave her? Apparently in the same boat, but her own deterioration seemed insignificant when compared to what she would lose in Daniel.

Daniel's mind was following many of the same tracks. He had worked hard, obsessively, to get her back. And if a little sex would keep Vala just like she was, it seemed like a small price to pay. As annoying as she could be, as much of a pain in the ass as she had been at times, Daniel had been at a loss without her. She'd brightened his day, turned the regular routine of his life into an unpredictable game. Watching her lose the vitality and the clever intelligence would be worse than finding her dead would have been. Because he'd have exactly what he wanted to have her back, only to have her permanently gone from her own mind and body.

"I see that you understand what I have been attempting to explain to you both from the start," the Matriarch said, disrupting their trains of thought. "This is not a matter that can be entered lightly. I told you both this from the start. Neither of you could contemplate the loss of the other; the concept of your own eventual demise at the time was distant. I am urging you to contemplate this matter seriously. Follow the natural courtship rituals of your peoples, this 'three date rule' that the guard outside the door told me of earlier. But do not delay too long or it may become too late."

**

* * *

**

They had seen the Matriarch and most of her group off later that afternoon. Bendi and Kessu were in the infirmary pouring over Dr. Lam's records of every case of the Prior plagues that she had to offer. Neither of them knew how to operate a computer, and so were writing out their notes and efforts on paper. Landry had been thrilled when he had been briefed that the Matriarch was seriously considering helping them perfect Sam's anti-Prior weapon. The news apparently had greatly pleasure the joint chiefs and the international committee as well because Landry hadn't been sporting the customary scowl after talking with those particular groups of people.

Daniel and Vala were once more back in his office. Vala was putting the final touches on her report for Landry, who had graciously extended her more time to finish it. Apparently he'd gotten a very nice pat on the back for gaining the probably cooperation of the Drakins. But not only that, Landry seemed to realize that Vala was having difficulties facing some things that had happened and was not yet ready to put them down on paper for anyone to read. It the guilt Daniel nurtured inside of him grow a little larger. How horrible could those events be to make Vala not want to face them even in a clinical way on paper?

Vala was possibly one of the strongest willed people he knew, Daniel mused as he flipped through his mail. She'd already faced enough in her life, he figured, to become jaded to some of the more unpleasant things that life could offer. He separated Vala's temporary citizenship papers from the mail and stuck the rest in a basket on his desk to be looked at tomorrow. Picking up the stack of faxes next, Daniel ideally went through them while he tried to beat his overactive imagination and his guilt back with a mental stick. Some of the things his mind came up with to make him feel responsible for would have killed Vala, therefore being impossible, but that didn't stop the images or thoughts from coming to him.

Daniel paused when he came from a very neatly typed out letter from a senator he didn't know. He knew that there had been new placements in the senate, and apparently Senator John T. Peterson was one of the new appointments. But Daniel was trying to absorb the rest of the letter aside from who had sent it.

_Dear Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Jackson,  
__  
I would like to personally offer my sincere congratulation and best wishes for your recent marriage. I am happy to announce that your marriage, marked by what I am told is a bonding ceremony performed by an off-world minister, is considered legal under the law passed several years ago. And while not all of the stipulations have been met, as they were explained to me, even a marriage ceremony performed here on Earth is considered legal by the end of the public ceremony.  
__  
Since you have decided to make Earth your home, we thought it best to push Mrs. Vala MalDoran-Jackson's citizenship papers through. As such I would like to assure you that Mrs. Vala MalDoran-Jackson's citizenship papers will be rushed so as to help with the transition of making your new home. We have forwarded temporary citizenship papers to you both, with a social insurance number, a birth certificate, and other such pieces of identification. Your marriage certificate will be special delivered to you the following week.  
__  
Congratulations once more on your recent marriage and best wishes for many happy years together._

_Sincerely,_

_John T. Peterson_

Daniel just stared blankly at the paper for a minute. It wasn't sinking in at all. Well most of it wasn't. Vala's temporary citizenship papers had arrived, they were sitting on the corner of his work table right now. But their marriage certificate would be special delivered to them next week? They were considered legally married? That was not sinking in, not very well at least. Daniel looked up to were Vala sat behind his computer, frowning down at the keyboard as she typed up her report. He was married. It was official. Well, almost. It would be 'official' when the marriage certificate arrived next week. But he was married.

Vala glanced up at him as though she could feel him watching her, and the little frown that had creased her brown a moment before turned into a concerned look. "What is it Daniel?" she asked. Something had told her that there was something wrong. She'd been so absorbed in writing her report; she hadn't even noticed that Daniel had been staring at her for a while now. There was a paper held in one hand, separate from the others. Whatever was on the paper seemed to be the source of the shocked look that had taken hold of Daniel's features.

Daniel handed her the sheet of paper and Vala carefully read over the contents of the letter. Then she read the letter a second time, not really believing what a rather inept senator had written. Not only had he repeated himself, but he seemed unable to write a proper congratulatory letter. Even as this information sifted through her mind, the words neatly typed out saying they were legally married according the laws on Earth were a little more difficult to assimilate. Vala kept waiting for the anxious fear that usually accompanied the realization that she was in or headed for a lasting committed relationship. But it never came. Instead she felt an echo of Daniel's shock, and some strange relieved acceptance, mingle with her own sense of contentment and safety and astonishment.

"Well, at least this time we won't be living out someone else marriage while we're trapped in their bodies," Vala said, handing Daniel back the paper and went looking for the promised temporary citizenship papers. She wondered to herself if there would be information as to where she would now be living in the thick envelop. Daniel was still staring at her, a smirk lighting his mouth. Ripping open the envelop Vala continued, "At least this time, if I get upset with you I can yell at you."

She was looking through the various bits of paper and identification that her envelop had contained when Daniel answered, "I believe that it has mostly been you that's caused me frustration and pushed the limits of my patients beyond belief."

Vala seemed to have ignored him however because she very suddenly announced, "They neglected to tell me where I would be living."

Daniel drew up short when she said that. It had never occurred to him that Vala would need a place to live. Of course she wouldn't want to live on base forever - the food was horrible. Now that she was a legal citizen in America, she'd want to have a place to call home _off base_. It had slipped his mind completely that Vala didn't already have a home here on Earth. The reality of the situation hadn't sunk in that far yet, but it apparently had dropped that far for Vala. "You can stay at my place," Daniel offered before the thought even completely formed in his mind. "I've got a spare bedroom that I was planning to make into an office but never really got around to it."

Vala looked up to Daniel, considering him and his offer for a moment before she said, "I will not be a burden or a charity case, Daniel." Vala's choice of words, brought to mind the words Daniel had used just after they had bound…_I won't be another conquest_. Well, this was communication, Daniel guessed. Or at least they were drawing some very firm lines in the ground for each other. Daniel wouldn't be just another notch in the bed post, and Vala refused to be dependent on anyone, even him.

Daniel managed to keep the smile that wanted to surface back by sheer force of will alone. Vala might not take a smile at this moment in the context that his thoughts were drawing on it. "Fine," Daniel said. "When you start getting pay checks you can pay half the rent."

**

* * *

**

Daniel had glanced at his watch as they pulled out of the underground parking lot of the mountain the next day. They'd left the mountain late enough that they had missed all the morning traffic but had left early enough that there wouldn't be massive crowds at the grocery stores or the mall. He needed to restock his fridge and Vala needed civilian clothing to go about town with. He wasn't too sure how he was going to manage Vala and shopping. From previous experience Vala liked clothes. Mixing Vala and a mall didn't seem like such a good idea to Daniel, but it wasn't like she could go around in a mix and match of military clothing.

Daniel's arm still smarted where Vala had smacked him for laughing at her when she saw his car. She'd looked so dubious of the safety of a land roving vehicle that Daniel couldn't help but laugh. She could steal and pilot almost any kind of spaceship but she didn't trust his driving abilities. Never mind the fact that he'd been driving since he'd been old enough to get his drivers license. Her earlier reserve about being driven around in a car had melted away to fascination with the world outside of the mountain base.

They were in the grocery store picking up the necessities. Daniel had grabbed a shopping cart and hand begun to aimlessly weave their way through the ails, starting with the produce, moving on to the butchers section, then through the ails themselves. Vala had been randomly picking things up and reading the labels, but never asked any questions about the items. She added things to cart when something interested her, but little else. She had been strangely quiet while they shopped and Daniel waiting for her to ask questions, like why he'd picked up a half dozen fresh tomatoes when he could get them in a can. But she didn't ask those questions.

They were in the 'personal care' ail; Daniel was trying to remember if he even had a bottle of shampoo at his apartment. Deciding to play it safe, he picked up two bottles of shampoo and a bottle of conditioner for good measure. Vala was staring at the rather large assortment of feminine products while Daniel went in search for tooth paste and another toothbrush, figuring that the feminine products were something that Vala could figure out for herself. Daniel left the shopping cart next to Vala, figuring that she might take a little while to decide which particular product she wanted.

Daniel was a little a way from Vala, picking up soap when she asked, "Daniel, what is this?"

Daniel turned, soap in one hand, toothpaste and tooth brushes in the other, to see what Vala was looking at. To his slight embarrassment Daniel recognized the box she was holding in her hands. "They're condoms," he answered, dropping the items he held in his hands into the cart next to Vala.

"Yes, I know. That's what it says on the box," she said with a hint of sarcasm as she read the back of the box. "But what _are_ they?"

Daniel was silently wishing Vala would have asked questions over the difference of fresh tomatoes and canned tomatoes. But this was Vala he was shopping with. She lived to embarrass him. Adopting an academic tone of voice to cover his awkwardness over this particular conversation Daniel answered, "They're used during sex to help prevent pregnancy and contracting a STDs."

Vala looked up at the selection available, frowning slightly. There were ribbed condoms, studded ones, some were thin, some where flavoured, other came with warming lubricant, others came with their own separate bottles of lubricant, and still others professed to be un-lubricated. There were even some with sizes marked on them with a choice between large and extra-large for those marked. She assumed the rest came in a uniform size. The box in her hands claimed to be a verity pack. "But there are so many of them. How do you pick between them all?" She was still examining the other kinds available when she asked this.

Daniel wished the floor would just open up under him and swallow him whole. "Personal preference usually dictates what kind gets used," he answered in the same academic tone of voice.

Vala forced back a smile when she heard that tone of voice. She was setting him off balance again, embarrassing him at the moment, but he was still answering her questions. "So which is your preference?" Vala asked, reaching for a second box. "The verity packs? Or the glow in the dark ones?" She was playing with him now. She doubted that Daniel would go after some plasticized genital sheath that glowed in the dark. But she could picture a number of her other lovers being more fascinated with his erect glowing penis than with her. Daniel did not strike her as someone that shallow.

She stood very still when Daniel stepped up next to her. He'd been keeping his distance from her since she'd begun the line of questioning; she'd expected him to simply walk away from her. Instead he'd moved into her, she could feel the warm pulse of his body near hers when he reached around her and snagged a box from the shelf and tossed it into the shopping cart with the rest of their items. He'd grabbed a box of thin condoms… size large. "If you are trying to impress, Daniel, you should have grabbed the box marked extra-large."

Daniel just pushed the shopping cart further down the ail as he answered her over his shoulder, "If you think I grabbed the box to impress, Vala, why don't you pick the box you think more appropriate to set such a male ego in its place?" With that, Daniel turned at the head of the ail and went down the next row. Vala turned back to the condoms and considered. Daniel was not one to tease, or at least he hadn't been. But she had learned long ago not to believe a word out of a man's mouth when it came to his size – they all tended to over exaggerate.

Vala set the boxes in her hands back on the shelves and grabbed a 'jumbo' verity box before she went to catch up with Daniel.


	12. Chapter 12: Beginnings

**Author's Note:** Hi everyone, thanks for all your reviews. It took me a while, but I finally got another chapter written, and better edited this time too! So special thanks to my new editor, The Noble French Fry, for going over this chapter for me. It's another long chapter that is trying to deal with both the plot and our budding relationship. So sit back and relax, read, review, but most importantly… Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** Stargate: SG1 isn't mine… and if you want money from me for this, go talk to my school, they got all my money.

**Warnings:** None.

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Beginnings**

The hallway leading to the apartment was empty and had that middle-of-the-day, middle-of-the-week, everyone-has-gone-to-work feel. Daniel juggled the grocery bags in his hands while he fished out his keys from his coat pocket. Leaning against the door jam slightly, he selected the appropriate key to open his apartment door. As the door opened for him, Daniel walked in, giving Vala room to maneuver into the entrance way. Daniel toed off his boots, leaving them by the door, before he made his way into the kitchen. Dropping the groceries onto the counter top, he walked over towards his answering machine.

The little red light blinked frantically up at him. Daniel sighed and pressed the "play" button, turning up the volume before he went back into the kitchen. Vala was laying down the collection of bags she had carried in, looking around his kitchen, seemingly fascinated with his apartment.

"Go ahead and look around," Daniel said rummaging through one of the bags. "I'll unpack these and then we can go to the mall."

"Trust me enough not to try and steal the silver?" Vala asked cheekily as she peered about the kitchen. Daniel snorted at this and began to pull out fresh vegetables.

"Good luck," Daniel muttered. "Cheep stainless steel utensils aren't worth that much on any market."

Vala smiled and continued to look around the kitchen. The cooking space was large enough for two people to move about comfortably. The back wall was dominated with cupboards of some light wood. Turning around, Vala faced the island and the rest of the common spaces. Vala was intrigued with just how open Daniel's living space was. It was like one giant room that was invisibly divided into different spaces. But all the spaces seemed to melt into one another.

Shrugging out of the thin coat she'd been given at the base, Vala went to explore while Daniel unpacked their food stuffs. When a mechanical voice announced, "You have twelve unheard messages," Vala ignored the sound, so consumed was she with learning something new about her Daniel. There were clues about the absent-minded and temperamental man scattered about his home.

Everything looked simple and comfortable—from the couch in his living room to the table in the dinning room. There was nothing terribly extravagant to be found in the entire space. Shelves lined most of the walls in the living room. There were books, which she expected to find, and artifacts, and pictures. The pictures were what fascinated her the most. There didn't seem to be any pictures of a younger Daniel with his family. There was also a lack of pictures of people who even looked like Daniel.

There were, however, a few pictures with Samantha Carter and Teal'c in them. There was another man in a few of those pictures who Vala assumed was General O'Neill. She'd heard about him from some of the nurses and other base personnel. They were Daniel's family if the pictures were to be believed, as well as the rumours. There was one picture of the four of them, smiling at one another, while they stood behind a house. He looked happy in that picture… they all did.

Vala moved onto another picture and stopped. She came face to face with a very shy looking but very beautiful woman. Picking up the picture, Vala brought it closer to her face to have a closer look. She had a feeling that the innocently elegant face in that picture was Daniel's dead wife. It was the only picture of the woman she had seen in the room, though Vala thought she might have seen a similar picture to the one in her hands in Daniel's quarters at the base, but she wasn't sure. She hadn't really made a study of his possessions there.

Setting the picture back carefully on its shelf, Vala felt a small seed of doubt creep into her. There was no way she could compare to the woman in that picture. That woman would have brought out every man's protective side, especially Daniel's. While Vala appeared to be only able to invoke Daniel's temper and anger.

The woman looked like a saint and Vala was anything but. That woman was the kind of woman that a man would spend the rest of his life mourning, while she could be shrugged aside like an unpleasant moment in time. There was one very slight consolation that she was dead and gone and Vala was not. But even that consolation worked against her. Dead, this saintly looking woman could do no wrong.

Vala's thoughts were broken by a very loud, very sharp male voice filling the room from the small machine that had earlier announced that Daniel had twelve unheard messages. "Daniel! You go and get yourself hitched and don't even invite me to the wedding! Pick up the phone. I know you're there. I just got off the phone with Carter." Vala looked back towards the kitchen to see Daniel practically flying for the telephone.

"Jack," Daniel said, standing still for a moment. "No we just got in… Yeah… No, the ringer was off on the phone." Daniel continued making small comments into the telephone while he went back to unpacking the groceries.

Vala turned her attention back to exploring the apartment. Not wanting to fall back into the same thoughts that had captured her before, Vala went to look for the second bedroom Daniel had said she could sleep in.

The first open door in the slight hallway was a familiar room. She remembered the surroundings from one of her dreams of Daniel. The large window, the dresser, the night stands, the closet, was all vaguely familiar. It was obviously his bedroom, but it was just as simply and comfortably furnished as the rest of his apartment. There was the same calm quality to his bedroom as there was elsewhere in the small apartment. There weren't any artifacts in his bedroom and fewer pictures; most were of the same faces she had seen in the other rooms, except for a few. There was a picture of Daniel with a girl holding a piece of paper. There was another one of Daniel holding a baby with a couple standing close by. They were dressed up, the men in suits, the woman in a very nice dress, and the baby in a white gown of sorts. That picture turned her heart. Daniel was smiling down at the baby, whose arms were out stretched towards Daniel's face.

He looked so comfortable holding that baby, as though it were the most natural thing in the world for him to do. It made her wonder if Daniel and his wife had any children. And if they hadn't had any children, did Daniel want them? If they were going to make this marriage thing work for them, would he want or expect children from Vala? She wasn't even sure if she could have kids any more. After being a host, taking some of the physical damage she had, and some of her other exploits, Vala wasn't sure it would be possible. Would that make a difference to Daniel?

Did he even want to make this marriage of convenience a real one? That was the more important question. Vala knew she wanted to give this marriage a try. It scared her half to death that she would end up like her mother did or be hurt like she was with her fiancée. But those were fears to be faced, and hopefully proven wrong. She was not like her mother—she wouldn't waste away from grief. Now that she thought about it, she wouldn't have time to grieve if something happened to Daniel. She'd die not to long after him. And Daniel was nothing like Gallagher, he wouldn't abandon her if she was taken away. He hadn't abandoned her to whatever fate might deal out for her when she'd ended up in the Ori galaxy, he'd searched for her. He'd found her and brought her home.

Backing away from the pictures on his dresser, Vala left the room. She didn't want to snoop too deeply. She wanted to learn about Daniel _from_ Daniel. Samantha Carter's words about giving Daniel enough respect to let him share the secrets he wanted to share with her came back to her as she backed out of the room. She almost wanted to shut the bedroom door behind her, but the thief in her was ingrained enough to make her leave things exactly how she found them. The next open door revealed a small, neat bathroom. There was nothing terribly interesting in there and so Vala went to the last open door in the small hallway, opposite from Daniel's bedroom.

Where the rest of the apartment had a tidy, if slightly cluttered feel to it, this room was stuffed with boxes and a few pieces of furniture. There was a desk up against one wall, a swiveling chair, some non-descript books shelves, and a silver filing cabinet. There were more books in the boxes, as well as files, and pictures and diagrams. It looked like the beginnings of an office, alright. Actually, it looked like a much smaller version of the office Daniel had on the base, minus the work table. It was a large room with an equally large window. It would work well as an office but not a spare bedroom. There was no way it would work as a spare bedroom without a bed.

"Daniel!" Vala called, barely managing to avoid tripping over a box as she turned to leave the room.

"Yeah?" Daniel's voice came through the open door.

"Daniel, there's no bed in this room," Vala said, striding out of the room and hallway into the living room.

Daniel was putting the phone back onto its cradle when Vala made her announcement. "No, there isn't. Like I said, I was planning on turning that room into an office. I just never really got around to it." Daniel went back to last of the bags of groceries, taking out the toiletries.

"So I'm supposed to sleep in one of the desk drawers?" Vala asked.

Daniel looked up at her, as though just figuring out that while Vala had a place to stay, she didn't actually have a place to sleep. The offer of the second room had been spontaneous and unplanned and the fact that there wasn't a bed in the second room had completely slipped Daniel's mind. That he'd never even considered turning the room into anything but an office.

"No. You can sleep in my room," Daniel offered, turning back to the last bag. "I'll sleep on the couch until we can get another bed delivered."

Vala watched him for a moment, feeling slightly disappointed that she'd have to spend the night alone with her dreams. There was also a spark of irritation at Daniel's nobler side. It was sweet, she thought, that he'd give up his bed for her, but it was frustrating coming up against this particular side of him. She couldn't exactly argue with him about the choice. She'd look silly doing so, but she wanted to. Daniel's self-sacrificing aspect was not a side of him that she had often encountered when she was here the last time.

"Ever the white knight," muttered Vala.

Pulling the last item out of the bag Daniel looked up at Vala. "What did you call me?" he asked.

"I said, _ever the white knight_," Vala repeated for him, her hands on her hips.

"I didn't hear you complaining earlier," Daniel retorted.

"And I'm not complaining that you found me," she snapped back. "But treating me like I'm some fragile excuse for a female is a deplorable aspect of the white knight."

Daniel frowned in confusion at Vala's tone. "Are you trying to pick a fight with me because I offered to sleep on the couch?" he demanded.

The look on Vala's face said it all, or at least Daniel thought so. She'd tossed her chin up and planted her hands on her hips, ready to defend her stance and force the argument when there wasn't even a reason for one.

"Look," Daniel said before Vala opened her mouth and said something to upset them both. "You want to sleep on the couch, go for it. I'll remember to not be considerate the next time I fumble an offer because I forgot a detail. After sleeping on that poor excuse for a cot I'll gladly take the bed."

Daniel picked up the stuff that went into the bathroom with a sweep of his arm and stalked past Vala.

"I'll have you know," Vala called after him, "I am not picking a fight with you over the fact you offered me the bed."

Daniel's head appeared in the living room with a disbelieving look on his face. "Oh? Then what reason do you have for picking a fight with me?"

Vala didn't even think about her response. It just slipped off her tongue and out of her mouth before she could construct another artificial reason to protect herself. "You told me once that you believed I used sex as a defense mechanism. Well you're using politeness and considerateness as a distancing technique and shoving me off to one side and into an ill-suiting category of 'incapable female.'"

"Oh," Daniel said with mock wide-eyed innocence as he stepped into the living room, a bottle of shampoo in one hand. "So it's all my fault. Your absolute refusal to talk about anything more important than the weather and what's on the menu at the mess has nothing to do with this?"

"I have not refused to talk about anything but such mundane things," Vala replied angrily.

"You have too," Daniel answered, gesturing with the shampoo bottle. "You expect me to just blindly jump into the chasm? Polite indifference is about all you'll let me get near you with. Tell me Vala, what would be the point of even trying to bridge that gap you've set up when you refuse to trust me, never mind telling the truth about something?"

"How dare you!" Daniel could see just how insulted she was by that comment, which was very much, mind you. "I have told you the truth. And when you refused to believe the truth I gave you the lie because you'd accept nothing less than to believe the worst of me."

"That's because you let me!" Daniel argued, pointing the shampoo bottle at her. Somewhere in his mind, he knew he couldn't really argue with her. He _had_ been ready to believe the worst of her from the very beginning. Part of that, Daniel figured, was because of the way they had met.

"And what exactly was I supposed to do?" Vala demanded, wanting to throw something at him but lacking an object to toss. "You had already decided what you thought of me. You decided what I was like, how I would act, what my motives for every little thing were, and you expected me to fulfill those expectations. If I had been anything other than what your expectations said I was supposed to be, you'd have thought I was manipulating you."

Daniel made a face at her, pointing the shampoo bottle at her in as threatening a manner as possible. "You stuck that damn bracelet on me, getting us stuck together. If that's not manipulation then I don't know what is."

"Would you have helped me if I hadn't done that?" Vala asked. Without waiting for a response from Daniel, she continued angrily. "No, you wouldn't have. You've been off to Atlantis in a heartbeat." She watched Daniel for a moment eyeing him when he didn't respond. When his grip tightened on the shampoo bottle she asked sarcastically, "And what do you plan to do with that bottle? Throw it at me?"

Daniel looked at the shampoo bottle in his hands and loosened his grip on it. The fight seemed to have wound down, though he doubted this was going to be the end of it. "Get your stuff on," Daniel said, turning about on his heel. "We're leaving for the mall."

**

* * *

**

In the deep dark of the council chamber there was a soft rustling of cloth over stone as it moved against the unique bodies that wore the material. The gentle sound of feet on the stone floor filled the otherwise silent room. There was the muted commotion of people organizing themselves for a general assemblage in the great room. Little light shone in the great room, only enough to hint at moving shadows, but not near enough to give those moving shadows a solid shape. But the light was plenty for others coming together.

As people began to take seats on soft pillows and furs, murmurs began to arise. The native tongue spoken in that cave sounded like the sands at the ocean's edge being moved about by the water. As the many conversations were taking place, one person entered at the back of the room, unseen, from behind a flap of soft material that served as a door. She had known that there would be conversations taking place before she had entered the room; she'd felt the words begin exchanged in the sensitive skin web that covered most of her face and body. Her connection to those gathered gave her a unique advantage over them. She could feel their emotions against her skin, she could taste their thoughts, and she knew their deepest secrets. And she knew all this because of the position they had given to her early in her youth.

Taking her seat among the soft furs laid out on the raised dais, the conversations grew softer and soon stopped completely as the last of those assembling took their seats in the large room. She had called all of her Brethren and her Sisters to her for this meeting. There was, traditionally, little in the way of a hierarchy among these equals, and in the great room, this was shown best with people sitting where they felt with whom they felt. The only hint of a hierarchy was the Matriarch sitting on the dais.

Glancing about the darkened room, the Matriarch smiled softly to herself. She remembered every face she saw, as she had studied with many of them. Some where old friends, others were younger students. But the expression on every face turned to her now was one of quiet curiosity and puzzlement. She had rarely called an assemblage together. This was, in point of fact, only the third she had ever called formally. There were always the informal gatherings that she preferred—inviting her Sisters and Brethren to her home for conversation and companionship. The more formal aspects of the assemblage were what she was looking for now.

They would not be able to look to the Mother as an equal, a fellow peer, an old friend, or as family. They would be forced to deal with her as the voice of authority in their Colony. That was what she needed most at the moment, to appear to be authoritative and certain of her actions, even though she was now operating on a primitive level of instinct.

Raising her hands up at her sides as a formal greeting to those gathered, the Matriarch's sandy voice filled the room. "Greetings and welcome to this called assemblage of Sisters and Brethren." There was no ritual response to this particular greeting, which was the reason she had chosen it. She wanted to make them listen to her, not become lost in a ritual. "Many of you already know that we have been visited by the _mordra-eshu_'s _kadra_. He has come and claimed her and brought her back to their people, their home. They have also completed the bond that was begun between them."

There was a general sound of relief and gratitude that everything had worked out well for their longest lasting guest in the Colony. Many of those gathered before her had been part of the attempt to heal the _mordra-eshu_ while she had been with them. The knowledge that they had not been the reason for her death was a relief to many and a thing of joy for the rest.

"What you do not know is that the _kadra_'s people have encountered the same creature that arrived in our Colony not long ago. The creature we were forced to destroy." The sudden silence that fell pinched at the Matriarch's sensitive skin web. "They have told me that there is a Great War taking place in the universe and that this war has now found its way into our home, our place of safety." Hissing whispers filled the pause in the Mother's words. "The creature was a Prior, a messenger of a race of powerful beings called the Ori. They come to convert us, to lead us into the worship of their gods, the Ori.

"We are aware that these Ori are not true divine beings. They are charlatans who are scouring our galaxy in an effort to convert peoples to this false belief. The _kadra_'s people are attempting to stop this from happening, to keep these Priors from converting more people to this false line of belief. But as we know, these creatures are able to use powers much like our own. And from our own experience with the _mordra-eshu_ we know that they are sorely out matched." Taking in a deep breath the Mother tried to keep her voice calm, to remain collected when making this announcement. "They had asked us to help them eliminate these Priors."

There was no mistaking the enraged uproar that followed that last bit. But at least the soft, sandy voices that had whispered conversations before the assemblage had come together were not hissing out profanities and denials.

"We do not fight in wars," snapped out a voice above the others.

"What kind of help can they possibly expect from us?" demanded another voice.

And still more protests came. The Matriarch listened to all of them, allowing them to vent their outrage and frustration before one question forced her to continue. "Why did you not just tell them no and return to us, Mother?"

The Matriarch looked to speaker and met a pair of amber and gold eyes. "I told them 'no,' but they opened my eyes to a flaw in our plans. These Priors will come back. They will not stop until they have conquered us through conversion or destroyed us. It nearly ruined the Colony when we destroyed the first one. How many of you are willing to experience that a second time? Or a third time? Or however many times it takes before we given in or they send their new followers to slaughter us?"

Standing from her seat the Matriarch paced before those gathered. "They will keep coming after us now that they know we are here. We can no longer hide from the rest of universe in our dark caves. We will have to brave the light, the surface worlds once more if we are to ensure our own survival, the survival of our children and loved ones. We have no choice in this. The next time a Prior steps through the gate, do you truly believe that I will be able to force the minds of our Colony to remain open to me so that I might save us?" She turned her attention back to the now-flat faces staring at her. "They ask us to help them create a tool, a weapon that would help against these Priors. They ask that we try to heal, to save, those people that the Priors infect with a plague-like illness for denying them.

"How can we refuse this call for help? Our helping them will probably save our Colony. The weapon will likely limit those of us that are forced to face these Priors. How can we truly say no when we pride ourselves on our ability to heal, our belief that all life is precious?"

"We do not become involved with these people," announced a voice at the back of the room. "We seal the gate and never return to them."

The Matriarch smiled slightly at this plan and stared at the back of the room. "I have left Bendi and Kessu behind, Tossa. Would you abandon them and doom myself and Bendi to a terrible kind of existence?"

"No," Tossa, the speaker from the back of the room said. "I would never abandon any of our people. But we have little choice, Mother. We cannot become involved in this war. We left our home so many years ago to escape the war that waged there."

"We have more choice this time around than we did the last," announced another speaker. "I am one of the few still in existence in this Colony that remembers the Old World, our native lands. The last time we were forced to flee into the night to escape the destruction that was snapping at our heels. When we found this place, we vowed then not to become involved in wars, not to become involved in violence, or any act that would cause harm to another being. We vowed this because we believed it to be the best course of action at the time.

"But now…Now, we have a chance to truly make up for the wrongs we have done in the past. For our petty war that destroyed so many people. We can heal those people who have fallen ill for their refusal of these Priors. We can aid a people in the creation of a tool to stop these Priors from taking hold of more people. We can do what we were unable to do during the war that ravaged our people and the people of the neighbouring worlds and systems. We can be of some use!" The impassioned speech of the Elder woman stirred many of the Sisters and Brethren. But it did not end the speculation that was abounding through the assembled.

"But we made that vow, that promise, to do no harm, Alm'kul. Now you believe that we should just abandon it? How can you ask that of us, Mother? How can you ask us to give up something that has shaped and defined our community, our Colony, for generations?"

"Change is a necessary part of growth, Seshu," the Matriarch began gently. "The threat we are now facing will force us to change. We will either give in to these Priors and become destructive agents of the Ori ourselves, or we will destroy ourselves in an attempt to remain isolated from others. I cannot allow either outcome to come to pass. And so we must open our doors to the _kadra_'s people." She looked over the faces staring up at her, wishing desperately that she could spare them from having to make this choice. But even sealing the Gate would not save them. "We can help them make a tool, a weapon yes, to fight these Priors. That tool can help us; it can save most of our Colony from being forced to face the prospect of killing. We can heal those people afflicted with the illness that the Priors give when they are refused. We are great healers; we will cure the same way that these Priors create this illness."

Holding her hands out to her sides again, the Matriarch let their indecision wash over her. It was better than the flat refusal that she had felt when the meeting first began. "Now come and join me in a meal. We will gather again on the morrow to continue this assemblage."

**

* * *

**

Vala had said very little since they had left the apartment. She'd spoken more to the various staff members in the stores they went to than she had with him. It was the first clue to tell Daniel that their fight wasn't finished; he'd only delayed the end of it by dragging them into a public place. But at least it had given Daniel a few hours to figure out what that argument had really been about. It hadn't been about him offering to take the couch and give her the bed. It hadn't really been about their unwillingness to really talk to one another—at least it wasn't the only reason for that fight.

The second clue had been when Vala hadn't even tried to embarrass him when they were shopping for the more intimate apparel. She'd gotten a good godly number of things in that store, but never once did she turn to him with that mischievous light in her eyes and ask his opinion on some bit of material that was supposed to be clothing. She'd made the commission-paid clerks practically salivate when she walked into their stores. And while Daniel had been made to feel like a leech for shopping with Vala from other customers, Vala had all but ignored him.

Daniel's third clue wasn't something he could really point to. It was like a gut instinct that told him that conversation wasn't over, and that the outburst the next time around might actually turn into an all-out war between them. But there was nothing there to tell him that this would be the case. Vala didn't even appear to be all that upset. Whatever it was whispering to him to be careful and turn the next conversation into just that, a conversation, probably had something to do with their bond he guessed. It was the only rational explanation that he could come up with for knowing this. Whatever _this_ was. It hadn't really been a fight to being with; it had been a forced argument that Daniel had found himself getting sucked into.

Easing the car into traffic, Daniel still wasn't any closer to figuring out what the real reason was behind Vala's forced attempt to start a fight between them. Nothing came to mind, and since she had refused to talk to him at all while they were shopping, it was that much more difficult on him to get another clue. If he could just get one, he was certain he could figure out the reason behind the argument. She seemed to be waiting for something, waiting for him to do or say something. Daniel tossed that knowledge up to their bond. It was in a way, a blessing because it gave him an insight to Vala's mind, but it was as much a curse because while it gave him an insight, it was leaving him far more confused. He had no idea what it was she was waiting for from him.

Casting around in his mind while they sat at a red light Daniel tried to figure out what he was supposed to do. If it had been anyone else, Daniel would have already asked what was wrong. But this wasn't just anybody else sitting in the passenger seat of his car, this was Vala Mal Doran. Daniel thoughts came to a sudden stop.

That was part of what Vala had been accusing him of earlier, that he was treating her differently. And she didn't want to be treated any differently than he would treat someone else. Even his attempts to give her a little space when it came to topics that might be a little uncomfortable were more for his benefit of not wanting to have his own fears confirmed than to give Vala breathing room. If it had been Sam or Teal'c or Mitchell, Daniel would have asked what had happened to them, he'd have asked how they were. He'd have tried to figure out what had happened so he could find a way to help them. But he had felt so responsible for what had happened to Vala that his own guilt had blinded him to the fact that he was putting her to the side.

He wasn't the only one to blame for the situation they were now in, but he was partly responsible for it. And some part of Vala wanted him to ask what had happened. Taking in a deep breath, Daniel decided to take the chance. The worst that could happen was that Vala would rip him a new one.

"So are you going to tell me what the problem is?"

Daniel felt her sudden intense gaze on him, but he concentrated on driving, on getting them back home in one piece. She was silent for so long, Daniel didn't think she was ever going to answer him. Just when he gave up on a response, Vala said, "I want a home, Daniel. A place where I'm accepted for me, not for what people expect me to be."

Daniel glanced over to her, but she was looking out the window at the passing buildings, not at him.

Vala could feel his eyes on her. He might not have taken his eyes off the road for very long, but that quick glance had said enough. He hadn't been expecting that response.

"You have a home here," Daniel answered. "They rushed your citizenship papers so you could have a home here."

Vala laughed at that, but there was a slight bitterness to the sound of that laugh, even to her ears. "No, Daniel. They rushed my citizenship papers because I am _your wife_. Not because they accept me in any fashion beyond that."

Vala kept her eyes firmly away from Daniel. She hadn't intended for the bitterness to be there, hadn't really expected it to be there. But why would Daniel want her for a wife to begin with? He'd made it abundantly clear the last time she had been here that he would have given his right arm to be rid of her. _But he searched for you_, a little voice whispered to her. That had made a difference at first, until she saw the picture of his dead wife. That photograph changed everything.

Daniel was glad for having to keep his attention on his driving. Vala's reply had caught him off guard. That wasn't something he had been expecting, but it was true. The government had rushed Vala's citizenship papers because, legally speaking, they were married. Annulling the marriage was a little out of the question since the bond the Matriarch and her Sisters had finished for them had lifelong implications. Subconsciously, Daniel had intended to make the best of the situation as he could. They couldn't make the marriage go away, but Daniel could at least take care of her, introduce her to his world and his people and help her to find her own special place in it. Then again, Vala had tried to chew him up one side and down the other for being considerate of a fact that he couldn't change.

"And you never expected to find yourself married to anyone?" Daniel asked. What he really wanted to demand was why there was such a problem being married to him?

"Not after Gallagher," Vala answered.

"Who?" Daniel asked, turning the car onto his street.

"Gallagher was my fiancée before I was taken as a host," she explained. "When the Goa'uld was removed, I went back to find him. What I found was not what I had expected." She paused, trying to find the words to describe what she had found. "It wasn't as though I had really expected him to wait for him. I had fully expected him to move on with his life. He'd found himself a wife," Vala continued, carefully keeping hurt from her voice. "And after he got her, he'd gone off and gotten himself a little harem. But I didn't have anywhere else to go." Daniel pulled the car into its parking spot without really paying attention to the act. Turning off the car he looked at Vala, who was now staring sightlessly forward. "I didn't have anywhere else to go," she repeated. "My family was dead and there was no one that I had trusted more than him. I thought he would help me get myself back together, start my life again. I couldn't have been more wrong."

Daniel listened, waiting for her to go on. When she stayed quiet Daniel asked carefully, "What happened?"

He watched her shudder at the memory, taking in a deep breath and prepared herself to keep going. "I told you I was tortured and stoned by the people of my own village," she said in the flattest voice Daniel had ever heard. "Gallagher was the one who convinced the others to do it. The first stone, the first beating… All came from his hand."


	13. Chapter 13: Communication

**Author's Note:** It's another chapter! It might not be long, but it's informative. Unfortunately there isn't that much information out there for me to make canon references about certain events – so a lot of it is just what I think should be true or want to be true for the purpose of this story. I never realized how difficult it would be to create a serious conversation between Vala and Daniel and still keep them in character, or as close to in character as I have managed so far. It's so much easier to write out verbally violent encounters between these two. And for those who are curious, I even have half of the next chapter written out... now I just need to type it up and finish it. I promise that it will be longer than this one.

A special thank you to all of you who have reviewed this story. I love waking up in the morning (sometimes in the middle of the afternoon or late evening depending on my class work and semi social life) to find reviews sitting in my inbox.

An even great thank you to my beta, The Noble French Fry, for understanding the reasons why this chapter was late in coming, and for looking over this chapter for me so quickly!

**Disclaimer:** Stargate: SG-1 does not belong to me, I do not own any rights to this program or its creations. I'm also a poverty stricken student, so please don't sick the lawyers on me.

**Warnings:** None really. One or two objectionable words, but nothing that you don't already hear or see on day-time/prime-time television. The formating on is acting funny again. So if looks odd on your computer, drop me a line and I'll see if I can fix it up.

So, relax, read, and review… most importantly, _Enjoy!_

**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: Communicating **

Daniel was puttering around in the kitchen while Vala put away her new clothing, trying to put a warm meal together for them. He'd considered ordering out, but after Vala's revelation of who had begun her torture, Daniel needed something to do; something to keep him busy. He just needed a little time to collect himself after that. What had risen in him hadn't been rational; it was like some animal had crept inside of him and had demand blood for what Vala had gone through. Rationally he knew that there was nothing he could do change what had happened. He could only help prevent something like it from happening again. He really didn't understand that response to her words. It wasn't like him. He tried to explain his reaction away with the knowledge that something similarly traumatizing had already happened to her that he could have prevented—being sent to the Ori galaxy and suffering who knew what at the hands of the Ori, Priors, or their zealous religious followers.

Breaking a handful of spaghetti and dropping it into a boiling pot of water, Daniel forcefully shoved those thoughts out of his mind. His circular arguments with his sense of guilt and responsibility over what had happened wouldn't do a damn bit of good. Instead, he chose to concentrate on the fact that since Vala had willingly offered that small piece of her past, she might be willing offer him more. After her accusations that he'd had certain expectations he expected her to fill with no regard to who she was behind that sharp tongue Daniel really wanted to get to know who Vala was. He wanted to learn about her past, learn the reasons why she was the way she was. He wanted to get to know the incidences in her life that had created the woman she now was.

That woman who both fascinated and frustrated him.

"What are you doing?" Vala asked, striding to the island that divided the kitchen from the rest of the apartment. He hadn't even heard her come out of his room.

"Making plans for world domination," Daniel answered sincerely. He watched as a slight smile crossed her face before he went on. "I plan to use my culinary skills to subdue and defeat all the world powers with heartburn and indigestion."

Vala snorted, trying to cover a laugh. "You might want to enlist the aid of the base cooks with that plan of yours. I think they might have more experience in such devious arts."

"Probably," Daniel offered reasonably. "However, I thought I'd give my limited skills a trial run on you first, before I go asking for the aid of the experts."

She made a thoughtful sound while she watched him chop some green onions. "So what kind of digestive torture are do you plan to test on me?" Vala asked.

"The infamous spaghetti and pasta sauce," he offered promptly, moving the chopped onions to another pot on the stove and adding them to its simmering contents. "I thought I'd start simple. Save the trickier tortures for tomorrow."

"Sounds dreadful." Vala watched as Daniel moved easily about his kitchen. She was content to watch him make their meal, intrigued by the fact that he apparently could cook. It wasn't a task she would have thought him very proficient in but as he moved about from task to task, he seemed completely at home in such a domestic setting. The delicious smells of cooking food made her mouth water.

With a carrot in one hand and a grater in the other, Daniel asked, "Would you tell me about your family?"

It was such an unexpected question that Vala was silent for a moment. She hadn't thought about her family for what felt like years. She'd carefully kept their memory off to the side, not wishing to remember what had happened to them. As Daniel slid the orange vegetable over the smooth surface of the grater, Vala watched thin curling wisps form on the other side, collecting her thoughts.

"I had a large family I guess," she said at last. Vala wasn't exactly sure where to begin. It had been so many long years since she had spoken to anyone about her family. And she had spent almost as long _not_ thinking about them. "My father was a trade merchant, fairly successful as well. My mother was the eldest daughter of a salt merchant. I don't remember much about her. She died in childbirth when I was three."

Daniel had a handful of the carrot curls in his hand when she said the last. "I'm sorry," was all he could say before adding the carrots to the sauce.

Vala shrugged a little before going on. "It was tradition to ecstatically celebrate the births of a couple's first child _and_ the birth of their first son. My father used to tell me stories about the celebrations after I was born. Oraine wasn't as lucky," she said evenly. It wasn't grief for her lost mother that caught her now, but the remembered grief her father had suffered. "Oriane's birth should have been a mark of great festivity; instead what should have been my father's happiest moment was marked by my mother's death.

"He hired a wet nurse for Oraine, Lana, and married her when I was eight or nine. I think Lana believed that my father would never be able to bring himself to love again, never mind marry again. But they married and she gave him two sons, Acco and Dasan, and another girl, Alaria." A small smile filtered over her features when she remembered her siblings. They way that had laughed and argued; how they would create their own brand of mischief, the way they would drive her crazy.

Daniel listened raptly while Vala spoke about her family. It was obvious to him that she had cared about them all, even her step-mother, Lana. "What were they like?" he asked. Daniel had never had real siblings of his own. There had been the other children in the foster homes he'd lived at, but he'd never really got close to any of them, bouncing through the system the way he had.

"They were horrible," she announced laughing. "Oraine and Dasan were master pranksters. They caused Lana and me no end of grief when they played tricks with other merchants or on Acco and Alaria. Those two were _devious_ and we could never prove they had done a thing. Lana used to despair about turning those two into proper little gentlemen. They put tree sap and twigs in Alaria's hair once," she explained. "I don't know which one of them came up with it, but by the time she woke up she looked like furious nymph.

"Alaria had all the makings of a delicate lady. She was soft spoken, modest, and courteous. I don't think she ever came home once with a scraped knee or a dirty face. But that morning," Vala chuckled and paused nostalgically. "That morning, Alaria came out into the kitchen cussing and shouting. I think the boys were more shocked that Alaria even knew how to cuss and could get angry. They turned themselves in, preferring our father's anger to Alaria's wrath."

A few minutes later Vala went on while Daniel drained the spaghetti. "Acco was the odd one out in the family," she said. "He had a mind for numbers and a great interest in learning about being a trade merchant. He spent most of his time with our father's ledgers and history book about trade and different types of merchants. He went everywhere that my father did, learning from him first hand. Oraine and Dasan had no interest in taking on my father's business, both wanting to set off to explore the seas."

Daniel was taking out the cutlery to set the table when Vala asked him, "What about you? What is your family like?"

It was Daniel's turn to shrug. "I don't have any family aside from my friends," he answered. "My parents died in an accident when I was a kid and I got bounced around the foster care system until I turned eighteen."

"No siblings?" she asked him.

"Only child," he said.

Vala considered that and remembered the picture of Daniel holding the baby in his bedroom. "Any children?" she asked, almost hesitantly. This was one question she wasn't sure that she wanted answered. If he said no, she would feel a little relieved. If he said yes, Vala wasn't sure how she would feel… Cheated perhaps? Though she couldn't figure out why she would feel that way.

Daniel gave her an odd look. "No," he said. "No kids." He had plates out and started to add the pasta to one telling her, "Say when."

Two, three, four scoops later Vala said, "When." Relief was tickling its way through her while she watched him add sauce to her plate and prepare his own. With his answer to her question and the odd look on his face curiosity came quickly. "Did you want children?" It was as if some masochistic side of her forced the words from her mouth. She wasn't sure she could have any children.

His shoulders stiffened when she asked the question. Vala thought she might have pushed too far with her question and debated taking it back, but he answered. "Sha're and I tried. She miscarried and we decided to wait." Vala didn't need the dull sense of regret to tell her that Daniel still mourned that loss. It was written clearly in the way he held himself when he brought their plates to the table.

"What about you?" Daniel asked, sitting down. "Any kids?"

Vala couldn't help but laugh. There was only the smallest hint of bitterness in that laugh. Before she had been taken as a host she'd thought she'd have plenty of children with Gallagher. "No," she replied, mixing her spaghetti with the sauce. "Before I was taken as a host, I thought that's what my life would be: wifehood and motherhood. After the Tok'ra freed me – after Gallagher…" She shook her head and rolled some pasta on her fork. "I realized after that it would take all my energy just to survive on my own. Bringing a child into the mix would have been irresponsible and stupid."

Daniel paused, fork still in his mouth when Vala said the last. He'd expected her to announce that she had never wanted children, didn't want to be tied down to one spot, and didn't want to be responsible for another person's life. Daniel was once again reminded that he did not really know Vala. Chewing his food thoughtfully, Daniel wanted to ask if she wanted to have kids, but refrained from asking. They hadn't talked about what they were going to do with this bond between them. They were, technically, married. But he wasn't sure Vala wanted to be married. Daniel wasn't ready for having that conversation. Not yet. Swallowing he decided to stick to a safe topic, "How do you like the food?"

A smirk tugged at Vala's lips. "If you really are planning to dominate the world with your cooking, I think you need to seriously bend yourself to studying with the base cooks." Enjoying another forkful of the delightful food, Vala made an appreciative sound before adding, "It doesn't taste like chicken."

"A miracle," he muttered, though a slight flush had lighted his face.

"Are you blushing Daniel Jackson?" Vala asked in surprise. It made his face turn a charming shade of pink. "Well, mercy take me, but I think you are." The look he gave her made her laugh.

After that their meal passed in companionable silence. Occasionally Vala would chuckle to herself, remembering the blush that had graced Daniel's cheeks. Daniel had a few more thoughtful moments where he wanted to return to their previous conversation but didn't know how to do so. He was curious to know how she had been taken as a host, if she'd been kidnapped from her family, or offered up. But the subjects they had touched on to had been relatively light in comparison and he didn't want to drag down the mood with questions like that.

Daniel was washing the dishes while Vala went back to her exploration of Daniel's apartment. She was looking at the some of the books on the shelves, watching Daniel move about his kitchen. Absently she picked a book and opened it to a random page. When she glanced down at what was written she was surprised and horrified to say the least.

…_Janet said that the drug Hathor used has worn off, but my memory is still a little fuzzy about what happened. The little bit I remember clearly isn't something I want to remember. I wish it were some horrible nightmare, something I could forget after a time, but even with the fuzzy memory it's still all too real. She said she needed "the code of life" to ensure compatibility of the larva. I was the unfortunate donor._

_God, I can still remember her hands, the expression on her face when she…_

Vala snapped the book closed and stared at it, not wanting to read further. Her stomach rolled at the thought of what Hathor had done to Daniel. She remembered what her Goa'uld, Quetesh, knew of that creature. She might have been a much loved goddess while she was around to keep her hormone drug working, but otherwise she was a monster. Vala looked over to Daniel, who had finished washing the dishes and was coming out of the kitchen. He saw the book in her hands and recognized it to be one of his journals.

"You keep detailed records of everything you do," Vala commented dryly, sliding the book back where she had taken it.

Daniel shrugged a little, frowning slightly when he realized which journal she had picked up. "Part of being an archaeologist," he said. He wasn't exactly sure what Vala had read, but he had a pretty good idea.

"So which one am I in?" she asked, fingering the spines of the journals. When he gave her a look Vala put her hands on her hips. "I _did_ steal your ship, Daniel. I kept you from Atlantis twice. Don't tell me I'm not in at least _one_ of these books."

"I didn't say you weren't in one of my journals," he answered back. "But you've already accused me of being outwardly judgemental, assuming you to be one way when you aren't. I don't think you'd want to read what I had to say about you in what are supposed to be a collection of _private_ thoughts."

Vala had a mischievous look in her eyes when she said sweetly, "We're supposed to be married according to your own laws. There is no such thing as privacy and secrets in a marriage." Daniel snorted a response. "Then I'll just have to read all of them," Vala added.

"Be my guest," Daniel said. "You won't find them very interesting." The last person aside from Jack, Sam, and Teal'c to have read those journals had been a girlfriend a few years back. She'd thought he was writing a fictional story when she'd read through them and asked him if he planned to publish them. Daniel hadn't known what to say to that and had tried to distract her from her question and curiosity. He doubted he could distract Vala from her curiosity, well, at least not for very long.

**

* * *

**

They both woke up with a start when an explosion sounded from the TV. They had apparently dozed off while watching the made-for-TV movie. It was the end of a high speed car chase, one of the cars had blown up, Daniel realized when he shoved his glasses back up his nose. Daniel couldn't even remember what the movie that they were watching was about. His back was sore from falling asleep sitting on the floor in front of the couch.

Vala moved stiffly on the couch, stretching out along its length. She hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep. She didn't even notice she was tired, or maybe the movie was just boring. Whatever the reason, she'd been startled out of a relatively pleasant dream. Curling back up again, Vala stared at the flashing images on the TV screen. She found herself in a silence that wasn't all together unpleasant, but there was a sort of tension. She wanted to break that tension, to ease it away or make it disappear with an explosive fight. Opening her mouth to voice the first question that came to her she asked, "What does marriage stand for here on Earth?" She was surprised by her own question, not knowing where it had come from, but thinking it might have had something to do with that pleasant dream she'd been having.

Daniel rolled his head back to look at Vala when she asked that. It was a strange question to ask he thought, but not totally unreasonable considering the circumstances they were in. It was just odd timing, he thought, to ask now. "Marriage, for the most part is, is meant to express a certain level of commitment and love between two people," Daniel answered, rubbing his face to wake himself up. "It's the socially acceptable institution to have kids and raise a family—biological or otherwise. Marriage has a lot of meanings between cultures here. Not everyone of them looks at it the same way."

"What about for here? For—what do you call yourselves?—Americans?" She met Daniel's gaze when he rolled his head back again to look at her. She was trying to figure out her situation, she guessed. Vala wasn't sure what was expected of her as a wife. Or if their marriage was really considered legal since it hadn't been consummated.

"Here, marriage is supposed to be about love, commitment, monogamy, fidelity, that sort of thing. But no two marriages are alike, not in the way the couple is married or how they live out their lives together," Daniel said honestly. "Why are you asking?"

Vala wasn't really sure why she was asking; only that she wanted and needed the answers. "Because I want to know what is expected of me. There were some very clear expectations for my people regarding marriage." She looked at him for a moment, gathering up her courage to ask the one question she truly wanted answered, or one of the questions she wanted answered. "You were married before," she stated matter-of-factly. When he nodded, confused, Vala half-demanded, half-asked, "Tell me about your first marriage."

Daniel regarded Vala for a moment. That was the last question that he had expected her to ask. What surprised him most was that he didn't mind sharing his memories of Sha're with her. The painful wound her death had caused had long ago healed to a small dull ache when he remembered her. Leaning back more comfortably against the couch Daniel rested his head back and took in a deep breath. "It was the first mission through the Stargate," he explained. "We'd just gotten it to work and when we went through we found ourselves on Abydos, one of the planets that had been ruled by Ra." When he closed his eyes and thought _my wife_, Daniel's eyes snapped open when the face that came to him wasn't Sha're's but Vala's. That was strange. But he didn't have time to sit back and analyze it, Vala was watching him, waiting for him to continue the story he had begun. He could have just given her the journal that detailed his mission to the planet with Jack and that first team. But part of him wanted to tell her himself. She deserved that much, having not known he'd been married before. Closing his eyes again, Daniel summoned up an image of Sha're's face, her laugh, the way she smiled and moved about.

"Her name was Sha're…"


	14. Chapter 14: Uneven Ground

**Author's Note:** Thank you to everyone who reviewed this story. Your reviews have been much appreciated. And a special thank you to my beta, The Noble French Fry, for beta-ing this chapter for me, even when with so much to do of her own! Well, it's really official now… This has become an AU story. Actually, it became an AU story when I mentioned sending the _Prometheus_ to check out the surface of the Drakin's world. But now I'm giving it the "official" AU stamp. So here is the new chapter, it's kind of long, and it even has plot! The next chapter will be coming up sometime in the middle of April. I suddenly find myself swamped – I have the show I'm stage managing this weekend (four shows in three days!), five papers I've hardly touched, and one final exam… all before the end of March. But let me know what you guys think of this chapter, because I'm trying to figure out what the focus of my next chapter will be.

**Disclaimer:** Stargate: SG-1 does not belong to me in any way, shape, or form. The characters and their back stories belong to other people with far more money than I.

**Warnings:** There are a few objectionable phrases in this chapter. There is even some unresolved sexual tension. Nothing too explicit takes place… Nothing is detailed, just mentioned and left for you to fill in those details that would raise the rating of this chapter.

_So relax, read, review, and most importantly…_

_Enjoy!

* * *

_

**Chapter Fourteen: Uneven Ground**

The bowls were passed out, moving along the table from hand to hand. There was companionable conversation going on as the food moved along as well.

She couldn't help but smile at how at ease they all seemed. When everyone had a bowl of food and a drink, the Matriarch dismissed the servants that had given out the meal with a small smile and a nod. She would talk with them later; right now her concerns were with what those sitting around her table had to tell her. These were her most trusted, most loyal followers and students. Her eyes and ears in the Colony, they were always looking and listening for rumours of decent and treatery. It pained her that this was necessary. They did this to protect her and to protect the Colony from the greed, ambition, and short sightedness of those who would plot to displace the Mother.

Holding her drink in her hands above her bowl, she watched as the others did the same. In a soft, sandy voice she intoned the same lines said over every meal: "To the memory of our lost home and all those who have left us." A moment of silent remembrance for those they had all lost followed. It was custom, this dedication of their meals. Remembering the home they had left behind to find their freedom. Recalling the sacrifices that sweet freedom had demanded, the lives it had cost.

But everyone's thoughts soon turned to what they had gained: the happiness they had all found. They were free, they could live their lives the way they wished, teach their children what had been held dear by all those who had fought for their freedom. The food was given a sweeter taste for these memories. And the meal began.

"I spoke with Damal earlier," a young woman at the table announced. "She is much opposed to this idea, believing an alliance with the…humans to be an unintelligent idea."

"Damal believes we should bury ourselves in the rocks and not interact with any who come through the Gate," another said. "Jay'Rait believes that it might be to our benefit to keep communication with these strangers. But she is very much against the construction of a weapon. Many are against this."

"I understand this," the Matriarch said. "Even I am uneasy about aiding them in the development of a weapon. But there is the possibility that we may not have to help make a weapon. Perhaps we will only have to help create a tool." She offered the last as a suggestion as though trying to gain some feed back on the idea. She already knew that it was only a matter of word choice, but one could never tell.

There was a pause in activity. "Mother, what would the difference be between a weapon and a tool? Would not both be used to achieve the same ends? To destroy another life?"

"Yes, Tal'li," she answered. "But it is the purpose of the creation that could make the difference. If we create a tool to…hold a Prior, prevent them from using their mental gifts then we are not helping to extinguish another life."

"But the end would still be the same," Tal'li persisted. "We would still be helping the humans to kill. We would be bending the will of fate to help them."

"And who is to say that it is not the will of fate that brought them here?" another woman demanded. "It might be the will of fate that we break our vow. That we take a more active place in the universe and stop hiding!"

"And it might be the will of fate that we deny the humans our help and bury the Gate! A test of our resolve, if you will," came a heated reply from Tal'li, a strange occurrence from such a gentle creature.

"Enough!" The Matriarch's voice left no room for argument. Silence fell, but the tension was still there, simmering under the surface. She would have to defuse this debate, ease their concerns. She would have to put up a stronger front before them. They could not handle her indecision on this matter; they would fall apart under it. _At least they wouldn't use it against her_, she thought warily. "I understand your concerns, Tal'li," she tried. "But Lomna also has a point. We cannot know what the will of fate has in store for us. We have been long without one who could read the patterns of the universe in such a way and now that we have locked ourselves from those patterns under these rocks, it would not matter.

"It is up to us to make our choices as best we can. We must think of the fact that the Prior that came through the Gate may not be the only one they will send. It nearly destroyed our Colony to destroy that one life form. If they return," she paused, taking in a deeper breath. "If they return, we may not be able to defend ourselves again."

"Of course we will be able to defend ourselves again!" a woman argued passionately.

"Perhaps, Sadha. But there is a great chance that we will not be able to. I may not be able to repeat what I did. If we cannot repeat that connection then we will be forced to engage in physical combat with one of these Priors." She looked at the shocked faces gathered around the stone table. "Physical _violence_," she repeated, stressing her point. "It is one of the few things that not one of us here wants to do. Would it be so bad, then, to help the humans? Would it be so horrible if it saved us from having to draw blood?"

She watched them as they thought on this new view. Sighing softly, she picked up her drink and sipped the bland beverage before she went on. "Our ancestors, our friends and family, lost their lives so that we could be free," she began. "Now we are threatened. Our freedom is threatened. It is another battle that we must face, for ourselves, for those that we love and cherish, and for our children and their future. This time, at least, we are not fighting our kin."

This brought about more still silence. The information that was settling in them was slowly bringing about agreement. It was a hesitant agreement; they did not want to become involved in the war that the humans had fallen into. But they did not want to fight a war of their own. It had come down to a selection of the lesser of two evils. Help the humans create a tool or a weapon against the Priors, or do physical battle with those creatures themselves? She was almost completely certain she knew what their choice would be in this matter. She did not want to give up the peaceful home she had helped to create, but it was that or watch them be enslaved and die slowly with them.

"Now, tell me what the others think," she said gently. "We know what choice must be made to protect us and our way of life. I must know what I am going to be coming up against."

They told her. It was a chaotic mixture of words, gestures, thoughts, feelings, and memories – all freely given. It was almost overwhelming, the sensory rush. Her skin web nearly hummed with the onslaught of information. The passing of such knowledge was accomplished much more quickly this way and ensured that no details were missed or left out. Bombarded, as she was, by names, faces, words, and opinions, the Matriarch was almost startled with what she learned. There were quiet a few who saw reason in her plan and might only need a gentle push to accept the plan. It was discouraging when she realized the rest thought the plan was pure folly. They thought it would ruin them or that they should bury the Gate and cut themselves off permanently from the universe. Some thought this would be their downfall, that by breaking the vow they had made would make them no better than the kin they had left behind. There were only a few, she was happy to note, who thought she had gone completely mad and needed to be replaced. Most believed that she was either being reasonable or could be made to see reason.

Holding onto the table, the Matriarch tried to settle her world back into the natural patterns while conversation continued around her. These loyal students and followers were now discussing the best way to approach the others one-on-one. It was up to her to come up with a tactic to put forward to the Assemblage as a whole. It would not be easy to do, but with the information she now had, she knew what kind of arguments would work, and which would dig a shallow grave.

* * *

"Doctor," came the smooth, sandy voice. Kessu was standing just inside of the infirmary, watching the gathered men shift uncomfortably on beds. One man was having his arm bandaged up; another looked as those his entire face was covered in large, thick red patches that were filled with greyish purple bumps. Two more men were sitting on other beds, watching the first two. 

"Alright, you're all cleared to go. Major Jordan, I want to see you back here in eighteen hours or sooner if that rash gets any worse," Doctor Carolyn Lam said, making a note on a chart. "As for you Sergeant Lopez, stop playing with the local wildlife and I'll stop having to stitch you back together." She had turned her back to the men, writing a few more notes on the charts in her hand. They hadn't moved - the four men were glancing between themselves and at the Doctor. "Gentlemen, I'm fairly certain I can think of at least a dozen good reasons why I should take a number of blood samples from you all. And if you do not vacate this infirmary I'll get the needles and keep you all here over night."

They were gone in a heartbeat. Sergeant Lopez even finished bandaging up his own arm to beat a hasty retreat with the rest of his team. The nurses suppressed smiles as they cleaned up after SG-16.

"What can I do for you, Kessu?" Carolyn asked, turning her attention to the Drakin woman.

The thin grey and black material the healer wore swayed softly when she shifted slightly on her feet. "Bendi and I have completed our preliminary analysis of the information you have provided for us. We are curious to know if you can provide us with further information – of Prior physiology if you might. And if you might be able to provide us with more recording material."

"You mean you guys have already gone through all the material I've given you?" Carolyn asked, shocked. She had given them every book, print off, and medical journal she could get her hands on at their request. Kessu wanted to create for herself, and subsequently her Sisters, a base of knowledge about human physiology, since it would be mostly humans she would be helping to treat.

"Yes," Kessu answered in her sandy voice. "It took us longer than we had expected. Your written language is far more complicated than we originally anticipated. But we have managed to translate the material into something we can use." Kessu was looking uncomfortable now. She laced her thin fingers together and shifted her stance once more. "I am hoping that you might have some material on the physiology of the Priors."

The nurses were watching the interaction with some interest. Standing in a few clusters, they were trying to appear as though they were all in deep conversation and busy with work – and they were failing miserably. Either that or Carolyn was beginning to settled deeper into the SGC fold than she had thought. Gesturing to the Drakin woman, she led the way out of the infirmary towards her office. Kessu's escorting guard followed at a respectable distance. "I have a file on the one Prior that we managed to get our hands on. He was killed, unfortunately. But there are a few other files that might be helpful."

Opening her office door, Carolyn entered and went straight for a filing cabinet. Almost everything in the SGC was put on computers, but Carolyn had never really broken herself from the habit of keeping paper copies of all her records as well. It was a good thing, too, she thought. The Drakins had been absolutely hopeless with a computer. They had actually managed to cause the laptop they had been loaned to blow up. Apparently Doctor Less was still trying to figure out how that had happened. "Your Colony had a Prior. Why didn't you study the remains?"

Kessu was standing just inside of the office, next to the door, just as she had stood in the infirmary. She looked a little more at ease, however, Carolyn noted. "Because there were no remains, Doctor."

"How?" she asked, curious. "What happened to the body?"

"There were no remains," Kessu repeated first, and then went on to explain the how. "When we cut the Prior from all his connections there was no longer ... a force to contain his body. Without certain connections a body cannot remain intact. It will come apart and return itself to the state and matter it was created from. We sent the remaining piece of the Prior's belongings though the finger created when the Stargate opens."

Pulling a file out, Carolyn nodded softly. "Get rid of all the evidence," she said more to herself than to Kessu.

"I am sorry, Doctor," the other woman said, discomfort evident in her voice. "I do not understand this phrase, 'get rid of the evidence'."

Carolyn pulled out two more files and returned her full attention to Kessu. "It's a saying here on Earth. It's not really important. Basically it means that all the evidence, the proof, physical remains that a Prior had been to your world was erased or destroyed." She handed the files to Kessu. "The one on top is all the information we were able to gather from the dead Prior. It's not that much, but it might help you. The other two are records of a very advanced human, Kahlek, who we had on base not too long ago. He's dead as well, but we were able to gather some information from him while he was still alive."

Kessu fingered the files, hesitating before she said, "Your people seem very fond of violence and mortal destruction, Doctor."

There wasn't that much Carolyn could say to that since she happened to agree for the most part. Instead of trying to defend what she already knew to be true, she said, "That's what happens with military people. But we aren't as bad as we used to be. I think we've frightened ourselves with what we can do to one another."

A rare and fleeting smile crossed Kessu's face. "My people were much the same way before we arrived at our new home." Holding up the files she added, "Do you have anymore recording material?"

"Not here," Carolyn answered. "Ask your escort to being you to the supplies officer. He'll be able to help you better than I can."

The Drakin healer nodded. "Thank you, Doctor." And with that she left the room, her escort trailing behind her.

Carolyn couldn't help but realize that Kessu hadn't been shading her eyes. Maybe the Drakins were more adaptable than humans were. She thought about this on the elevator ride up the mountain. It would explain why they were so comfortable in the dark conditions of their home if it hadn't really been their home in the first place. These thoughts quickly left her mind, however when she cleared the last check point. Cameron Mitchell was waiting for her topside.

She often forgot about important things around him. If it wasn't life threatening, it just wasn't that important. And watching him lean against her car in an old pair of fitted jeans, a soft looking navy blue t-shirt, and his leather winter coat made everything but the sky falling on them seem insignificant. His hands were jammed in his jean pockets, his shoulders rolled forwards as though protecting himself from the cold. But Carolyn could see his eyes, watching her, even with his head lowered. Her breath caught that the look in his eyes – predatory. The relaxed stance of his body was a deceptive cover. He was like some half-tamed leopard – it could be nice and gentle and cuddle with you, letting you pet its head, but under all that was something wild, something dangerous, something that would rip the hand blindly stretched out to it. Yes, that was what Cameron reminded her of, a half-tamed leopard.

"Hey there," Cameron said, giving her a lazy smile when she got closer.

"Hey yourself," she answered, smiling back.

Cameron's heart-stopping smile had given Daniel Jackson a run for his money when Cam had first arrived on base. There were still a few half-hearted fights with her nursing staff about whose smile was best, among other things. "I thought we were going to meet in town at the restaurant," Carolyn added, more for something to say than for protest. Carolyn was all on the side of the nurses who had jumped ship from Daniel to Cameron and that smile did a small number on her most of the time.

"Yeah, but you're often off work late," Cam said, moving towards her. "I thought I'd be nice and come up and meet you here. I mean, you're off on time today and that throws off all my careful planning. We still got at least an hour before our reservations come up."

Carolyn glanced around them when Cam came up next to her. "Yeah, but there was a reason we were going to meet in town," she said in a lower voice.

He frowned down at her, hands on his jean-clad hips. "Now, you wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen with me, would you, Doctor Lam?" There was a teasing tone to his voice, but a very serious look in his eyes. He was half-joking, trying to make light of a rather serious question.

"No," she answered automatically. "No, I'm not embarrassed to be seen with you. But we agreed that we would be careful at work. The complications could cause us both a lot of problems. You know that."

Cameron seemed to consider her words carefully. He knew she was serious. It was more her career on the line than his. He was, technically speaking, her patient. Having a relationship with him could get her medical license pulled. That was something he definitely didn't want to do to her. Her job was important to her, and was a part of the woman he'd come to know and care a great deal about. Losing her medical practice would be like taking away some other essential part of what made her Doctor Carolyn Lam. "I know," Cam answered finally. "But we've been careful to make sure that I'm always looked after by another doctor. And a rather observant friend pointed out that you dad already knows."

"What?" she exclaimed, grabbing onto Cameron and dragging him further into the parking lot, as though just around on of the parked cars was General Landry. Cam had no choice but to follow where his arms were tugged. The appendage was still attached to his body after all. "How does he know? We've been so careful to make sure he didn't know until we could come up with a way to tell him that wouldn't get you in trouble."

Cam couldn't help but laugh. The serious and concerned expression on his lover's face cut that laugh short. "C'mon," he said. "We got an hour before our reservations. I'll explain how the General knows about our relationship and how Jackson figured it out all on his own too." He brought a hand up to her face and smiled to her, to reassure her before he became serious again. "Then we gotta talk."

* * *

"Aren't domestic chores something that women do on your planet?" Vala asked. She was leaning against the door frame to the bedroom while Daniel was gathering dirty laundry to wash. He'd stripped the bed and was now sorting out the clothing into different piles. 

"Oh, yes," Daniel said. "I should have remembered that this is something only a woman can do. But since I don't have some random female puttering about my apartment, cooking my meals, cleaning the place up, doing the laundry…" He paused dramatically and turned to face her gesturing with a handful of dirty socks. "Wait a second, you're here now-"

"Not a chance, Daniel," Vala said evenly, eyeing the amount of dirty clothing the man had generated. "Besides," she added reasonably. "I don't know how you do your laundry on this planet. I'm not about to stand over a tub and scrub board and hand wash what looks like a month's worth of dirty laundry. I could break a nail."

Daniel could only snort a response to that, tossing the socks into the pile of whites. "And the world would end on a broken nail," he muttered to himself.

"What was that?" she asked, pushing away from the door jamb, her hands falling to her hips.

"And the world would end on a broken nail," Daniel repeated for her as he began to stuff the different piles into a laundry basket.

"Have you ever broken a nail on a scrub board?" Vala demanded.

"Can't say that I have," Daniel responded, watching the dark-haired thief when she tossed out her chin, and thrust out a hip, one hand resting on the shapely curve while she pointed at him with the other. She was acting upset, and even though Daniel knew she really wasn't, the angered tone of her voice was… arousing. It wasn't the words she was using, but the emotion that lay behind them, the way she spoke and moved when she was upset, or acting upset.

Of course, with his attention to the details of her physical responses to anger, Daniel hadn't heard a word she'd said. Vala noticed. "Are you listening to me, Daniel Jackson?"

_She's upset now_, Daniel thought. "No," he answered in as sweet a tone as he could summon up. It was a little disturbing to know that he'd been so completely distracted by his responses to her that he'd tuned out her words completely. Picking up the basket of clothing Daniel swept past her and out of the bedroom before the shock could really wear off.

Vala started after his retreating back her jaw hanging. Recovering from her surprise, Vala walked out of the bedroom and back into the living room. Daniel had his head stuck in a closet, looking for something she supposed. With his attention fixed on something else, Vala did the one thing she had been wanting to do to him for the last few days. She picked up a book from the closest shelf, not even bothering to check the title of the hardcover volume, and threw it at him.

She had a brief moment of satisfaction when the book made a resounding thud on Daniel's back before landing on the floor. Daniel's head came up and out of the closet, blues eyes flashing with anger when he demanded, "What the hell was that for?"

"That was for not listening to me," Vala retorted, planting her hands firmly on her hips.

"What, you expect me to cling and hang from every single word that comes from your mouth?" Daniel asked hotly, taking a few steps towards her.

"No, but I do expect you to at least listen enough to know _what_ I am talking about!" Her own anger drove her a few feet closer to Daniel. She could see he was upset, his anger practically radiated from him. That anger reflected in his eyes, in his face, and it made him look lethal, violent, dangerous, and oh so tempting. Even when the muscles corded in his arms with his effort to not clench his fist, Vala was drawn towards him, she wasn't afraid of him.

"You almost never stop talking when you get started," Daniel said. "And when you do get started, Vala, your choice of topics tends to revert to something sexual every time." It was like some kind of dance, his body knew the steps, knew where to move, where to hem her in, where to give her some space.

"You could have just shut me up," she answered fervently when they were toe to toe. "It really wouldn't have been that difficult if you didn't want to listen to what I was saying. It would have been far more polite than ignoring me-"

When Daniel's hands came up to her throat, stronger fingers taking a firm hold when they captured the back of her head, Vala thought, _maybe I should have been afraid of him_. But the thought was quickly washed from her mind when Daniel's head dipped to seize her lips with his own. As soon as she realized the kiss was coming, she'd been prepared for a rough claming of her mouth. She'd been ready to struggle against such treatment, but this… this wasn't at all what she'd expected. Not the kiss and not her reaction to it.

From the anger had flashed in his eyes, to the potential violence radiating from his every move, to the firm grip of his hands she'd expected a hard and brutal kiss. But Daniel Jackson was anything but predictable. The kiss was soft and gentle, tender even and she practically melted into the sensation. It was like a little taste of heaven, it left her wanting more. More of that kiss, more of Daniel.

But just as suddenly as the kiss had begun, it ended, and it left Vala feeling breathless and bereft. She focused on Daniel's face, on his eyes that had started out flashing anger and were now smoky with desire. But he backed off, stepping away from her and releasing her. "Well now, at least I know how to get you to stop talking," Daniel said, his voice sounding huskier to Vala's ears.

* * *

She had only grabbed the journal as a form of retaliation for that kiss. She hadn't actually expected to sit down and read Daniel's private thoughts while he did his laundry. She hadn't intended to become so absorbed in what she was reading that the world just seemed to stop existing outside of that journal. She hadn't meant for any of that to happen, but most of all she hadn't meant for her heart to break for the man she was reading about – for the pain that he went through, his confusion and frustrations, his fears. 

Daniel had given her a funny look when she'd picked up that journal, and now she was sitting crossed legged on the couch reading about Daniel's struggles to regain his own memories and come to terms with the man that he was. The man in question was moving about the apartment, trying to put things together before everyone else arrived tonight. He still gave her odd little looks while she read, the strangest had been when she'd laughed, crying, for what he'd gone through. That journal had given her a new insight to Daniel, it had given her an inside glance to the man she was married to. And while some part of her had been horrified with what he had remembered about his life, a much larger part was nearly bursting with pride for how strong he was.

Finishing the last page, Vala closed the journal with great care before getting up to put it back in its place on the shelf she'd taken it from. She didn't need or want to read any of the others, not even the ones that had her in them.

"Satisfied?" she heard Daniel ask from somewhere close by.

"Never," was her answer, a slight teasing note in her voice. She had a feeling that he had been uncomfortable with her reading that particular journal. It was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that was telling her he was waiting for her to pass judgement on him.

When she turned around she saw him standing very still in the middle of the living room, watching her. He looked nervous, she thought, and he shouldn't. She'd just read about one of the most difficult times in his life. He had willingly shared the knowledge with her, letting her read that journal. He hadn't told her himself, and Vala didn't think that Daniel could really have talked about that time himself. This was, in a way, one of his ways of sharing himself with her. She didn't have anything for him to read about her. She didn't keep records like that, it was too risky. But she could share with him.

Leaning lightly against the shelves, Vala looked relaxed to Daniel, completely at odds with the nervousness that was coursing through him. He hadn't realized which journal she'd picked up until they'd gotten into the laundry room in the basement and he'd nearly panicked. Now he was still on edge, waiting to find out what kind of passing insult she might toss at him for being weak and afraid. For this reason he was a little shocked when she started speaking.

"I think," she began, "that Quetesh was almost insanely pleased when she picked me for a host. A born again virgin with a family of fit sacrifices."

Daniel's stomach turned, but he didn't know what to say to make her stop. He'd wanted to know how she'd gotten picked as a host, what had happened to her. But her words, _born again virgin_, chilled his blood. "There were things that Quetesh did that I didn't learn about until after the To'kra had removed her from my body. When those memories came back, I didn't remember Quetesh doing them. It was my hands, my voice, and my actions, all of it.

"Quetesh killed my family, but I was the one who did it, _my_ hands. Quetesh tortured hundreds of people, but it was my actions that caused them pain… When I went back to Gallagher I was looking for a safe place, somewhere where I could put myself back together again, because I knew I wasn't the same person that had been taken as a host." Vala had closed her eyes, and Daniel felt an echo like feeling of nausea and pain and disgust. He wanted to make her stop talking, he wanted to go to her and enfold her in his arms, comfort her, do something to make her realize that she wasn't a monster, that she hadn't done any of the things that she remembered doing. But he couldn't move – he was rooted to the spot, forced to listen. "Putting myself back together was the most difficult thing I think I ever had to do. Some part of me wanted nothing more than to forget, to let it all go. When they stoned me I screamed at them."

She crossed her arms around her middle, hugging herself and opened her eyes to look at Daniel when she told him. "I screamed at them because I wanted them to stop. I was scared and felt betrayed. But another part of me screamed at them because it wasn't enough. I deserved their worst for what I did to my family…"

Her voice cracked and Daniel was suddenly released from whatever spell had bound him to that spot of the floor. In three quick strides he had her against him, in his arms. Pain laced through his chest, his own and Vala's. She was trapped in the remembered pain, and Daniel ached for what she'd suffered alone. Holding her tightly Daniel felt Vala's hands on his back, nails digging into his shirt and skin as though she thought he might disappear and she was trying to keep him right there. "You didn't do those things," he whispered to her, speaking into her hair because he couldn't see her face. "You didn't hurt those people, Vala. That wasn't you."

"I know that now," she said a few moments later, pulling herself out of the memory. "I fought and raged and hated what I was, what Quetesh had made of me. It was so far removed from what I thought I would become that I was completely lost. I hadn't accepted that then. But I eventually did learn to accept it." She pulled back from Daniel a little and smiled slightly to him. "I did my crying for my family. They wouldn't want or need my tears – "

The door to the apartment opened suddenly with Cameron Mitchell's cheerful call of "We got movies, beer, and pizza!" Sam and Teal'c followed Cameron into the apartment, grinning at one another. They all stopped when Cameron stopped and asked, "Hey we aren't interruptin' anything are we?"

"Oh you wish, Mitchell," Vala said, moving past Daniel and back to the couch to flop down on. "You'd have just loved it if you had walked in a few minutes earlier and caught Daniel with-"

"Vala!" Daniel snapped rubbing the bridge of his nose. Of course she'd slink right back behind the flirtatious mask, Daniel thought. He didn't really blame her, but still, did she really have to go to that extreme?

"What's beer anyway?" Vala asked, looking at Daniel with a smirk.

"Alcoholic beverage," he answered automatically. "What movies did you guys bring?" He was trying to not look embarrassed, and succeeding in his mind.

"Well now," Cameron began, walking further into the apartment, opening a Blockbuster bag and pulling out a small handful of DVDs. "We remembered just how much you love those _Indiana_ movies-" Daniel groaned at the mention of them "-so we didn't pick those up. But between Sam and Teal'c here we got us quiet a selection. _Blues Brothers, Office Space, Wish Master, Old School,_ and _Body Snatchers_!"

Sam was in the kitchen, putting the beer in the fridge when she said, "Hey! You're the one who picked out _Body Snatchers_." Opening the box, she pulled out three beers and seemed to hesitate for a moment before reaching for a fourth.


	15. Chapter 15: The Inevitable

**Author's Notes: **So, finally, here is the new chapter. And it's got Daniel and Vala from start to finish even. I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to get this one written and posted for you – but between my classes, papers, the play, and now my exams, I haven't had much time for writing. Thank you all for your patients with me about this. And thanks to Noble for the wonderful beta and feedback on this chapter – I appreciate the help more than I can possibly say. And thanks to my friend Age, back home, for listening to me complain and rant because the first couple version of this chapter just did not turn out right and for giving me a very unique look at the male perspective for situations like this.

Thank you Nightshae for pointing out the formating prombles! The chapter has been replaced and edited to fix them. Enjoy!

**Warnings:** There is explicit sexual content in this chapter. I have isolated it with a double page break for those of you would prefer not to read that section and would rather skip it completely (I did put a lot of work into that scene though, so those of you who do read it, I hope you enjoy it). There is also a slightly increased amount of cussing in this chapter, but not overly much and not to a disgusting degree either.

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. I'd be slaving over scripts instead of fan fiction if I had the copy rights.

**

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: The Inevitable **

**"Y**ou don't want me, do you?" Vala asked.

"What?" Daniel jerked his head up, forgetting he was half under the desk in the second bedroom and hit his head on the underside of the surface. That question had been unexpected to say the least. Cursing softly, Daniel rubbed the back of his head and came out from under the desk. "What?" he asked again frowning.

"If you don't want me, why did you kiss me yesterday?" Vala demanded. She crossed her arms and rested her weight on one foot in the middle of the room. She looked far more confused than she sounded, and now that he thought about it, he could feel that confusion rolling around inside of himself.

Frowning up at her from where he was crouched on the floor, Daniel snapped back an answer. "Because it was either kiss you or throw you out a window. I can't be arrested for kissing you." His head was throbbing from smacking it on the underside of the desk and the hangover he'd woken up with this morning. It made him testy and easily annoyed, but he rarely lost his temper. Vala seemed to have some sort of special talent to bring that temper out and magnify it.

Daniel watched as her eyes narrowed and she glared down at him. "So you don't want me?" she demanded again. He could see she was upset with his answer, but didn't understand how he knew it had hurt her. Daniel wasn't sure if it was because of their proximity or because he was trying figure out what had driven Vala to the one topic they had both been avoiding, but he knew that he had hurt her. He knew that she was disappointed by his response.

"Where is this coming from?" Daniel asked, slightly puzzled. It sounded like she was trying to pick another fight with him. He didn't want to be sucked into another one with her.

She threw her hands into the air in exasperation, rolling her eyes at him. "I'm trying to figure out what you expect from me, Daniel," she answered him in annoyance.

"I don't expect anything from you," Daniel responded. It was like a blow to the gut when those words left his mouth. The bond that the Matriarch had forged between them gave Daniel the inside look of Vala's responses. He didn't really need it to know what he'd just given the wrong answer.

She turned up her chin, smiling brightly at him—she smiled through the gut wrenching disappointment. "You should have just said that in the beginning," she told him and turned about on her heel and left the room.

Daniel followed closely behind her into his bedroom. "Where is this coming from, Vala?" Daniel tried again. And he didn't just mean her question, but her responses and the reasons behind her questions.

Vala didn't answer his question; instead she was half buried inside of his closet looking for something. She was ignoring him Daniel realized when Vala came out of the closet empty handed and went over to the bed to look under it. "What are you doing?" he asked, because it seemed like a safe question to ask that might get an answer.

Vala came up from looking under the bed, not looking at him, when she did answer him. "Looking for a bag of some sort to pack my stuff into," she told him matter-of-factly.

"You're planning on leaving?"

"Of course I am, Daniel," she said. "You didn't expect me to stay did you?"

Crossing his arms, Daniel defaulted to the anger that Vala was able to bring up in him. It was more comforting than the confusion, and far safer that the dull ache of hurt that tightened his chest at the thought of her leaving. "And just where do you plan to go?" Daniel asked in a sarcastically reasonable tone.

"I'll go back to the base," she answered coldly as she brushed past him into the living room.

"And do what?" Daniel demanded when he followed her out of the bedroom.

She was going through the small closet that held mostly linens and towels and laundry stuff now. "Inform your General Landry that I dearly regret changing my mind so late but that I will have to decline the kind offer of a job and depart so that I can put together my affairs."

"And what are you going to tell him when he asks why you're leaving?" It was like some twisted form of interrogation poking holes into Vala's plans so that he could find out what was really going on. He tightened his hold on himself, fingers digging into the material of his t-shirt in an effort to keep from reaching for her. Daniel had a feeling he'd end up with a black eye if he tried to stop her at this point.

Vala seemed to understand that Daniel wasn't really asking when she was going to tell General Landry, but what her real reason was for leaving. "You don't expect anything from me, Daniel," she said, closing the linen closet door and moving to the closet in the front hall. "You don't want anything from me" – she jerked open the closet doors – "so I don't see why I should stay where I am so obviously unwanted."

She came out of the closet with his backpack and already had it opened and emptied by the time she walked by him again, still talking. "I told you I won't be your personal charity case. I also won't stay to ease your guilt. You don't want me Daniel and I'm tired of trying to give you reasons to want me."

Daniel followed her back into the bedroom. She tossed the backpack onto the bed and went right for the closet, not wanting to see Daniel's face. She was leaving and that was final. Looking at him would only want to make her stay and she was not going to remain here with someone who didn't want her. She would not turn into her mother, wasting away for want of a man who couldn't and wouldn't love her. She had no reason to stay and she wouldn't. "What do you mean, _I don't want you_," Daniel demanded hotly behind her. "It should be obvious that I do—"

"Obvious!" Vala snapped back, coming out of the closet with an arm load of clothing she would take with her. "Obvious?" she said again, enraged, throwing the clothing onto the bed. "You have a very funny way of showing you want someone Daniel Jackson! You treat me like a complete stranger when you bring me back here," she said, ticking off examples on her fingers. "You keep some sort of artificial distance between us by acting as though I were some emotional invalid. You all but ignore me when you get the chance—"

"And you think you've done so much better?" Daniel demanded of her. "You all but throw yourself at me and anything else that happens to be male with a pulse!"

"I do not!" Vala shouted hotly.

"You do too!" Daniel yelled back. "You want me to take you seriously but everything returns to sex for you!"

"There are your assumptions of me again," she hissed at him, turning to shove clothing into the backpack.

"You've yet to prove them wrong," Daniel returned. "You treat sex like a game. Sex isn't a game to me, Vala. I refuse to cheapen—"

"How dare you!" Vala rounded on him, grey eyes flashing with outrage and insult.

Daniel retreated a step when Vala turned that gaze at him, but he overrode whatever protest Vala was about to spit at him by continuing on with what he was going to say. "I _refuse_ to cheapen both of us by simply submitting to some meaningless act of sex. I will not be just another notch in the bedpost for you." Some of the insult had faded, but Daniel could see the anger still flashing under the surface.

"Is that what you think this is about?" Vala asked, still angry. "Sex? I'll have you know that as much as I love a challenge, I would not have stuck around if it had only been about sex. And if you'll remember," Vala added. "Since I have come back you are the one who has been making the advances. You are the one throwing yourself at me, not the other way around!"

Daniel would have loved to argue the last of her words, but he couldn't so he argued the first part. "You stuck around the first time because of your treasure and getting us stuck together with those bracelets!"

"Because, of course, I knew that we would find an ancient communication device that would extend the physiological bond that the bracelets created," Vala answered sarcastically. She picked up the backpack and tossed it towards the door when Daniel stepped towards her. "You don't want me, Daniel, so let me finish gathering the few things I'm going to need so I can leave." There was a note of resignation in her voice – in the set of her shoulders that told Daniel she'd just given up the fight – that said she just wanted it to be over so she could leave.

He wasn't sure what he was going to do. He wasn't just going to let her leave believing he didn't want her, that he didn't care about her. Unfortunately, Daniel's skills with women were rather limited in the emotional department. He was awkward when it came to expressing his feelings with words. Actions had always spoken louder than words. At that moment, Daniel couldn't have put his feelings into words. The fight had brought the confused jumble of them to the surface and he hadn't been able to unravel them all yet. Her threat to leave scared him, but his own inability to tell her what he knew she wanted to hear when it was the truth angered him. He knew that he couldn't just let her leave, and the only thing that would get her to stay were the words he couldn't even come up with.

Vala watched the small battle being waged in the blue eyes staring at her. She was holding her breath waiting for him to move, to say something, anything. She forced a bored expression on her face, not wanting to give him further ammunition to hurt her with. She wanted the truth from him; she wanted him to admit that he didn't actually want her, that while he found her physically attractive, he didn't need her.

Daniel's hands slid around Vala's throat, his head coming down to hers. She caught the flash of violence in his eyes, a flash of violence that was tempered with a need almost as strong. The kiss, when it came, was everything the frustrated and angered sexual tension promised, and more. His kiss was hard, hungry, and needy. He kissed her as though he would eat her from the mouth down. But there was tenderness in the kiss, it wasn't all taking. She could feel his need for her to want this, to want him, the way he wanted this, wanted her. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her body arching against his. This was what she had been looking for.

* * *

_Your Warning Lines_

* * *

A growl crawled from his throat when she arched herself against him. His hands slid from her throat to her waist, pulling her against him tightly. She fit so nicely against him, he thought as his hands moved to cup her ass and lift her against him. Her legs wrapped around his hips just as he brought her roughly up against the wall in his room. The kiss was hot and heated, their tongues tangling and doing battle, exploring each others mouths. The kiss broke from the force he'd used to bring her hard against the wall. But his hot mouth moved from hers to trail over her throat, his teeth scrapping the flesh, silk tongue soothing the nipped skin as he moved further down. The strength in his arms as he held her up against the wall lifted her higher so his lips could tease over her shoulders. 

Vala's hands moved down his chest, searching for the hem of the material of his shirt so she could touch the muscle hidden under it. He was warm against her, almost feverish. She dragged the cotton material of his t-shirt out of his pants, her hands touching his abdomen, the muscles flexed under her fingers. His skin was smooth and warm, and she could feel the restraint he was using in how tightly he was physically holding himself in check. Such control, such restrained, raw, violent need. She wanted to make him lose that control. She wanted to feel the full force of that need. She didn't want him to be careful of her. She lowered her mouth to the shell of his ear and breathed out, "Off," as she tugged at his shirt.

"Hold on more tightly," he demeaned in a gruff voice. She complied, her legs holding on more tightly around his hips. Daniel shifted his stance, pressing into her and bracing them with powerful legs. Leaning back from Vala's body, Daniel grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it up and off. The muscles of his chest, shoulder, and arms rippled with the simple movement. Vala made an appreciative sound when the shirt came off, her hands going to his shoulder, dragging him to her, her lips searching for his. His mouth was like a drug, something she could not get enough of. His lips were soft and yielding, but oh so firm and demanding at the moment. She couldn't think clearly enough to even compare what he tasted like, but the feel of that dexterous tongue of his moving with and against hers sent shivers over her body. His hands moved over her hips, sliding under the tight material of her own shirt. His hands kneaded up her sides as far as the material would allow him. It didn't take her long to realize that he wanted the shirt off and that it wouldn't work with her pressed against the wall the way she was.

"You aren't naked enough to keep this going against a wall," Daniel growled when he broke the kiss. Vala could see the thick pulse at his throat throbbing away. In his blue eyes she could see the narrow window of opportunity to stop pause in its closing. He was being noble again. She wanted to slap him.

Leaning into him she whispered, "We are in a bedroom, darling. There are plenty of horizontal surfaces for us to get more naked on." She watched the desire burn all the more brightly in his eyes and had to dig her nails into the fleshy part of his of shoulders to keep from falling from Daniel's hold as he pulled back from the wall and took two strides towards his bed. Daniel was unwilling to give up the position of control, so keeping her in his arms and pressed against him, he climbed up onto the bed, dropping them down one the softer surface, his weight pressing hard into her.

His hands urging her to sit up brought Vala up, resting her weight on her hands for only a moment before Daniel was pulling her shirt up and off, tossing it away. Vala pushed her hair out of her face before she caught the look in his eyes. She knew he had seen her naked before, but the look in those baby blue eyes nearly stole her breath away. Reverent, it was the best word she could find to describe that look. She knew she was attractive, had known it all her life, but this was the first moment that she had felt truly beautiful as well as desirable.

Daniel remembered what she had looked like naked and unconscious. She'd been attractive; she had a strong but feminine body. But this did not compare to seeing her half naked and aroused. He knew he was staring, but couldn't help it. God damn she was sexy, Daniel thought. He wanted to enjoy her, he wanted to explore her. But there was a little voice shouting in the back of his mind, _take her, mark her, make her yours!_ He knew himself well enough to know if he went much further with that insistent voice growing stronger and gaining support from the baser parts of his mind, he wouldn't be able to stop later, even if she demanded that he stop.

He didn't touch her, a slightly insecure voice whispered to Vala. With the way things hand been progressing against the wall she didn't understand why he had suddenly stopped. When he looked up to her, the voice died away. There was no way he didn't find her desirable. She was watching him grab a strangle hold on his control. The effort showed in the slight trembling of his muscles. "If you want this tell me yes, Vala," he said in a horse voice.

He was still on top of her, still covering her lower body with his. She could feel him stretched tight and hard even through the material of both their pants. The fact that he was willing to stop now, if she wanted to, was just another testament to his nobility, and how much he wanted her. They had only been fooling around for a short time; neither was in a terribly compromised position. For the sake of all the false gods, he'd only _just_ taken off her shirt. Vala didn't answer him. She wanted to test the limits of his nobility, wanted to see how far she could push him before he made her stop, or just lost control. She was betting that he would make her stop, demanded an answer before he would really lose all that self-control.

There was a mischievous light in her grey eyes when she leaned into him. Daniel wasn't sure what she was up to and could only hold himself in check when he felt her mouth on his shoulder. Her hands soon followed, moving over his chest, his back, nails running lightly down his spine. He shivered at the sensation, and began to wonder what it would take to make those nails dig into his back. His eyes shut on the thought, he was fairly certain he knew exactly what it would take. When her hands moved back to his stomach, Daniel waited for her to move them into a different position to continue her current form of torment, but she didn't. She used the space he had given her to conduct her torture.

Her finger tips slid under the band of his pants at his hips, gently massaging the area while her tongue twirled artfully around his nipple. He groaned for her when her teeth made a near capture of that nipple. But this reaction was nothing to the one he gave when her fingers move from his hips to his lower stomach, still hidden under the band of his pants. Every muscle in his body went rigid, he even stopped breathing. It wasn't so much surprise - he had been expecting the move - it was anticipation of what she was going to do next. He wanted to prevent himself from falling on her like a rabid lover. Daniel had a feeling that Vala often had cheapened herself in her past encounters; he wasn't going to cheapen the experience for the both of them by only taking from her and giving little or nothing in return. It was why he was holding on to the frayed threads of his control. When the tips of her exploring fingers made warm, fleeting contact the hardened evidence of his own arousal, Daniel stopped her.

Grabbing her hands, Daniel drew them away while his body shook with need and the control he was exerting over that need. He had each wrist firmly held in his hands above her head. He dropped his head forward, laying his forehead between her breasts. "Tell me yes, Vala," he whispered, his warm breath caressing the curve of one breast when he spoke. She squirmed slightly under him, ripping a pained moan from Daniel. "Tell me yes," he said again, his lips this time moving just over her skin so she could faintly feel his lips forming the words as they moved to her throat. "Say yes," he asked along her jaw. It wasn't until his mouth was above hers, a hairs breath away saying, "Say yes, Vala. Tell me yes," that Vala found her voice enough to whisper just one word: "Yes."

She watched the careful control fall away from him, felt it in the powerful grip of his hands when he all but flung her further onto the bed. She had released a beast of uncontrolled desire and she revealed in the sensation of having the last of the offending clothing being ripped away from her body and watching it happen to his own clothing. He was beautiful, was all she could think, comparing his calculating movements to that of the panthers she had seen on the television. He wasn't careful or controlled with her anymore. He had a determined light in his eyes. There was an almost violent intensity to him. He had a goal and he was going for it. Vala gasped in surprise when strong hands ran up her thighs, parting them to make room for him. The sheer force of his need and the fact that she had wanted him since the first moment she had seen him on the Prometheus left her open and ready for him. But he didn't take her like she had expected him to.

Instead, nimble fingers left her gasping, her back arching, while she held onto him. Even as she began to lose focus from the fast approaching orgasm, Vala could almost taste the promise of more on the air, on his lips when he bent to steal a kiss from her only a heart beat before the orgasm hit. Vala was left unable to draw a proper breath, both from the thorough kiss and from the trembling, clenching muscles of the climax Daniel had just brought her to.

She was still holding onto him when he drew back from the kiss. He drew back enough to see her face, to watch her try to open her eyes. Daniel waited, poised, for her to look up at him, smile at him before he grabbed her slim hips and drove his full length into her. He could feel her inner muscles clenching around him, adjusting to him. He forced himself to watch her face, watch her reactions. Sliding one of his arms under her hips, he moved the other under her shoulder, his hand holding the back of her head. Daniel was elated at the feel of her smooth skin against his. Her legs wrapped tightly around him, her arms coming around his shoulders. He brushed a soft kiss across her lips, something far more gentle than he wanted to be doing. He couldn't just jump her to get what he wanted, it would be nothing better than a taking and he couldn't do that to her. He wanted to give as good as he got, but still take what she offered.

He stopped trying to understand the details of what he wanted and left his goals to make her dig those nails into his back, and have her scream for him. He continued the gentle kiss as he drew himself from her slick sheath. Resting his forehead against hers, watching her face when he thrust back into her, fast and hard. Daniel held her in place while he withdrew from her and thrust into her again. The force of his thrusts drew sounds from Vala's throat, groans and whimpers were torn from her. Daniel watched the reactions flow across her face, threw her eyes.

He built her up, left her straining for release and then brought her back down, only to build her up again. A light sheen of sweat covered them both, their bodies sliding against one another. Daniel's muscles were trembling with his determination. He could feel Vala's body tightening around him, getting closer and closer to the promised end. His thrusts grew faster, harder, driving her on. The small sounds she had been making became sharper, closer to the screams he wanted to hear. His arms tightened around her when his thrusts began to lose their rhythm – no longer long, deep and hard, but short, fast, and harder.

Vala's back arched, her head fell back and she screamed for him when his determined movements brought her to a blinding climax. Her nails dug into his shoulders and racked over them. Daniel held back, holding back so he could watch her wither under him. He wanted to see her like this. His heart was hammering in his chest when the muscle spasms slowed before he drive into her a last time, buried deep, muffling his own half shouted cry of ecstasy against her throat. He laid his head on her shoulder, breathing hard and fast, unable and unwilling to move.

He felt weak and tired, and contentedly fulfilled lying with her like this. His heart was still hammering in his chest, he could feel hers beating rapidly as well. He thought about wearing a smug smile, but decided that it was too much effort to bother. Drawing in a breath he asked, "Disappointed?" He remembered her constant jokes about having lousy sex with him, and other comments to hint at his being inadequate in the bedroom.

Vala gave a weak laugh and panted out from under him, "Greatly." She slid her limp arms more securely around Daniel's body when she turned her head towards his ear when she said, "We could have been having mind blowing sex for months if you hadn't been so damn noble." Licking her lips she asked, "Can we do that again?" Daniel just laughed, he still did not have the strength to move, let alone perform an encore of what they had just done.

**

* * *

T**he room was dark when Vala opened her eyes, the sun having long since set. Daniel's arms were firmly wrapped around her waist; his body spooned up behind her. It was comforting to wake up to the feeling of his warm breath puffing softly between her shoulders. She shook her head when she realized that the blankets that had started up around their ears had been kicked down around their legs. Daniel was surprisingly warm against her back, keeping her from feeling the slight chill in the air of the room. 

Stretching Vala winced when she felt sore and abused muscles being pulled, but she had a contented smile for each and every ache that made itself known. Vala had experienced good sex before, but the sex had been wonderful with Daniel. He hadn't just jumped at the chance for sex. He'd made the foreplay into an act of worship, exploring her body and learning all the places that she liked to be touched and kissed. He'd taken his time with her after. Daniel was a very attentive and generous lover.

He'd proven he wanted her. He'd proven that he wanted her for more than just a lover if his actions were meant to be equated with unspoken words. She hadn't expected any declarations of love, and she hadn't gotten them – which she was both grateful and disappointed about. If the turbulent and jumbled emotions she'd felt filtering from their bond were any indication, Daniel still hadn't sorted out his emotions for her. Vala had been given more time to sort through hers, and while they were still a twisted mess, she did know that Daniel meant a great deal to her. There was one word she could use to describe those emotions, but Vala wasn't ready to use it yet, not even to herself.

Lifting Daniel's arm, Vala tried to crawl out of bed without waking him up. She made it to the edge of the bed before she felt his hand wrap around her wrist. "Where you going?" he asked in a sleep-rough voice.

The clinging grasp on her wrist made her smile. "I'm going to take a shower, darling," she told him. She knew that he was worried, she felt that much. His question answered what he was worried about. The bag she had packed was still sitting on the floor next to the door. When Vala crawled back onto the bed, Daniel let her go and rolled on his back when she knelt above him. Leaning in, Vala brushed a soft, chaste kiss on his lips before adding, "You should take one too." Daniel gave her sleepy response to that, reaching down for the blankets and pulling them back up to his ears. "Don't you go back to sleep though," Vala warned, tugging the blankets down a little so she could see the outline of his face in the dark room. "We need to talk when I get back from my shower if you aren't going to take one too."

Vala managed to escape the bedroom and took a relatively quick shower, washing away the dried sweat from her body and letting the hot water ease some of the aches she was feeling. She also washed away the evidence of their first coupling. They hadn't used one of the condoms that Daniel had picked up from the grocery store the first time, but they had the second and third time. She wasn't certain if Daniel had realized that slip, but Vala wasn't particularly worried about it. She doubted she could get pregnant anyway.

When she shut off the water and reached for a towel, she had one pressed into her reaching hand by a very sleep-rumpled Daniel. She smiled and left the bathroom to him, not wanting to complicate the talk they had to have by adding more sex into the mix. Drying off, Vala pulled on a pair of pyjamas before heading out into the kitchen to get something to eat and start Daniel's coffee maker. She didn't understand how he could stand that bitter drink, but he seemed to live off the stuff at times.

She was settled on the couch with a glass of orange juice a toasted bagel when Daniel came out to join her. The coffee maker had stopped its gurgling and hissing by then as well. When Daniel settled onto the other end of the couch, she offered him half of her bagel, which he accepted with a soft, "Thanks." She nodded softly and finished off the other half of the bagel.

Companionable silence stretched out between them while Daniel ate the bagel and drank his coffee. It was broken when he stated, "We didn't use a condom the first time."

Vala didn't need a translation for what he was asking her. She took in a deep breath before she answered him. "You don't have to worry about me getting pregnant," she told him softly. "I don't think I can have children any more." Vala had drawn her feet up under her, curling into the corner.

She watched Daniel visibly relax into the couch as though he had been worried about that. But she felt the small nudging of disappointment through their bond. Since they had sex it had become easier to identify which emotions were her own and which were Daniel's as well as what they were. He was relieved that there was a negligible chance of getting her pregnant, but some part of him was disappointed that she couldn't have children. It would be something they would have to talk about, she realized.

Taking a sip of his coffee, Daniel let his head drop back against the couch, his eyes closed. He wasn't sure why he was disappointed that Vala couldn't have children. It should have come as a complete relief to him. His job was too dangerous; there was a very real chance that the next time he stepped through the Stargate he was going to come home in a body bag if he was lucky. But some part of him that he had realized survived has still hoped to one day have kids. Pushing the topic aside for the moment he rolled his head to the side to look at Vala when he asked, "So how do you want to have this talk?"

_With you more fully clothed_, was the first thought that came to her mind. Daniel was dressed only in a pair of old jeans that clung nicely to his thighs. But Daniel's comfort with his own body around her was something that Vala appreciated. "I'm not certain," she answered instead. "Neither of us expected to get married, especially not to one another."

Daniel nodded in agreement but waited for her to go on. She was the one who had brought up the fact that they needed to talk. He was going to leave it to her to start them off somewhere in the conversation they had been avoiding.

"I honestly don't know what you expect of me," Vala said, a slight note of frustration creeping into her voice.

Daniel sighed softly. He could feel her frustration as though it were his own. He'd discovered that her emotions seemed to come across more smoothly once they'd had sex. He still wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but at the moment it was a benefit. "I don't expect anything from you, Vala," he said gently, and pushed on when he felt the bristling response of hurt come through the bond. "I'm not going to demand anything from you. I'll take only what you are willing to freely offer, no more than that." He felt some of that hurt recede a little with his further explanation. "What about you?" he asked in return. "Do you have any expectations of me?"

An almost dazzling smile tugged at her lips before she answered him. "Plenty," she said. "You've filled and surpassed all of them so far." When he only raised his eyebrows in question, Vala laughed. "There are a few I've set aside, knowing that they'll never be fulfilled. I very strongly doubt that you'll bend to my every whim and that we'll end up butting heads more often than not."

Daniel chuckled at that. "You'd find me boring inside a week if I answered your every whim and you'd pass me over for dull inside of a month if we didn't argue with each other."

The laughter and smiles slipped from both their faces when they realized they were talking as though they were going to be together for a very long time to come. Vala waited for the familiar fear to settle in at the thought of being tied down for the rest of her life, but it never came. There was a sense of contentment in place of the fear. Daniel wasn't waiting for fear or panic to set in, he wasn't afraid of commitment. What he was worried about was losing Vala. But the idea that they were talking as though they were going to give this sudden and unexpected marriage a real try surprised him. He hadn't been expecting Vala to be alright with this.

"So, we're really going to give this a try?" Daniel asked tentatively.

She nodded slowly, considering her choice and words carefully. "I think we've already made the choice to give this marriage a try," she replied. She narrowed her gaze at him before adding, "But don't you dare think that I'm going to stop flirting with other people. I do have a reputation to maintain."

Daniel smirked. "I'd be worried if you stopped completely."

With a sudden twist of seriousness, Vala asked him, "Did you want children?" She was watching him, noting his outward reactions as well as keeping track of the response she felt through their strengthened bond. His disappointment at her announcement of not believing she could have children had forced the question from her lips before she was able to stop it. She held her breath waiting.

Daniel blinked at her, thinking carefully. If his own emotions filtered through as clearly as her own did, Daniel knew she'd felt his disappointment. He hadn't really thought about having children in years. He'd all but given up on having them when he realized that he wasn't going to be able to form a lasting relationship with a woman outside of the Stargate Program. "I always wanted a family of my own," Daniel answered carefully. "After Sha're died I sort of set those thoughts on the back burner. I haven't had a relationship that lasted long enough to even consider the possibility and my job sort of made it a minor impossibility." Knowing he couldn't lie to her without her knowing, he added, "I guess I always sort of clung on the possibility that maybe, one day, I could get the family I wanted."

Daniel considered Vala for a moment after that, letting his answer sink in. This new, more serious and focused Vala was different from the woman that had beaten him up on the _Prometheus_ and the woman who'd come to the SGC demanding to see _her Daniel_. This was the side of a complicated woman he'd very rarely seen. "Did you want children?" he asked, returning her question.

A small, sad smile tugged at her lips and she closed her eyes. "It seems sad, but a part of me had always hoped that I'd have a baby, child of my own. I wasn't worried about who the father would be, so long as he wasn't overly stupid. But I realized fairly early on that between being a host, some of the damage I took when I was stoned and some other events in my life that I wasn't going to have that baby." She opened her eyes and met Daniel gaze, the sad smile still in place. "I've long ago accepted that I wasn't going to be able to have the family I had always expected to have."

Daniel nodded and tried to think of a different subject to turn the conversation to. If they were dealing with difficult and awkward topics, Daniel brought up the one most likely to upset her, to get it out of the way before it caused a problem or burned a hole in his brain thinking about it. "Monogamy," Daniel stated, bringing his coffee cup to his lips. The coffee had long since cooled, but he didn't care.

"Nothing less," Vala answered. "Unless we both agree to the third body in the bed."

Daniel nearly choked on the cold coffee when she said that. He didn't want to know who she might be considering for a threesome and desperately searched for a different topic to cover, but he couldn't really think of one at the moment. Everything else they would have to work through as it came up like every other married couple.

Vala seemed to have another idea because she told him, "We'll switch the beds when the new one arrives tomorrow." When Daniel could only look a question at her she elaborated. "New marriage, new bed. You do not take your wife into the same bed that you've had other women in."

Daniel felt the small thread of jealousy sneak its way across the bond and hid his smile in his coffee mug. It wouldn't do for her to toss him out a window for finding her jealousy endearing. Though he wasn't sure why he found it endearing, he'd never liked envy in a partner before. But Vala was a living, breathing contradiction if she was anything. She would continue to flirt with whatever struck her fancy, but she'd be jealous of any woman who might dare do the same with him.

"Alright," Daniel answered when he was sure he could keep a straight face. "We'll switch the beds when the new one comes in tomorrow." Standing up he went into the kitchen to regretfully pour the rest of the pot of coffee out. It would have gone bad by morning, but it still felt almost sacrilegious to just pour the coffee into the sink.

Setting the pot back into the percolator Daniel walked over to Vala and held out his hand to help her stand. "C'mon," he said. "Time to go back to bed. We've got plenty of work to do in the morning if we're going to be rearranging and switching the furniture around."

**

* * *

Post-Script Author's Note:** A comment for the last chapter and a few of the reviews I got… Teal'c doesn't drink alcohol that has been stated repeatedly in the show, so Sam taking out a fourth beer was a way of showing a sort of truce and acceptance of Vala. Also I thought I might point out that according to the Hit count (now at 10, 886!), the most popular chapters are 6, 7, 8, and 9. I'm glad so many of you seemed to enjoy them! I hope you liked this chapter. It was a challenge to write, but it was rewarding in the end when it finally came together. 


	16. Chapter 16: Hellova Day

**Author's Note:** Hi you guys, I'm sorry it took so long to get this new chapter up. But I'm at home now and I finally have the internet hooked up onto my computer, so hopefully I'll be able to get the rest of the chapters written and put up in a reasonable amont of time. A big thanks goes out to my beta-reader, Noble, for editing this chapter for me, and offering the suggestion for the title of this chapter - it's a little different than the one offered, but the meaning is still the same.This is mostly just another filler chapter fortherest of the plot, but it was really very fun to write.So, all of you, please - relax, read, and enjoy this chapter.

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, unfortunately.

**Warnings:** Off screen sexual violence (no details). Some cussing, but it's an understandable amount.

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen: Hellova Day**

**I**t wasn't even lunch time and General Hank Landry was ready to start pulling out his hair. It had all started with the power going out, leaving the alarm clock blinking dumbly at him. He'd gotten up later than he usually did and when he'd gone to make coffee he'd discovered that he was out of cream. His truck had broken down on his way to work – he was still trying to figure out what the odds were for a flat tire _and_ an over heated engine. When he had finally made it to the mountain – after having his truck towed – he had planned to let the efficient rhythm of work sooth his foul mood. It hadn't worked. He'd made it down the elevator only to be stopped by Walter with an arm load of files for him to read through and sign.

But the last was normal, every day paper work, and he could deal with that. It was when he made it to his office and found an even larger stack of papers waiting for him that he realized today was not going to be a good day. One of the off-world teams had come back twelve hours early under fire and wounded. Someone had broken one the scientist's experiments on base about twenty minutes after that. There had been a fire in the mess, burning breakfast and a handful of base cooks an hour later. Exactly thirty-three minutes later the heating and cooling system had apparently become possessed and begun spewing out frigid air that smelt vaguely like melting rubber. Siler was working on fixing the heating and cooling system with a small army of personnel.

The Drakin's still in the mountain had inexplicably caused another computer to blow up and had half the security personnel running around looking for papers, pens, and more candles. The aliens were driving the medical staff up the walls with their questions and requests for more information regarding anything and everything under the sun about human physiology. And ten minutes ago he'd had a very wet, very cold Major standing in his office explaining to him that not only had the hot water stopped working in the women's change room but that they would need to have take disciplinary action against a Lieutenant for attacking one of the female personnel in the women's change room.

Someone had thrown a wrench into his efficient, well oiled world. And unless something absolutely wonderful happened by the time lunch was served in the mess heads were going to roll.

When the alarms sounded and Walter's voice came over the PA system for unscheduled off-world activation, Landry had a feeling that his day was now sitting at a fork in the road. Everything was going to start working again, his efficient world under the mountain would start running like the well oiled machine that it was supposed to be, or the day was going to go to hell in a gift wrapped hand basket. Striding into the control room he didn't even have to ask who was dialling in, Walter announced, "It's the Drakin's IDC, sir."

"Open the iris," Landry said and went down into the Gateroom to find out what kind of turn his day was going to take.

The Matriarch came through with a small group of her people, two guards and another Sister. They stood on the metal walkway leading up to the Gate blinking into the light, trying to adjust to the change. The room was cooler than it usually was thanks to the possessed heating system, but the aliens didn't seem to notice this change.

"Welcome back to the SGC," Landry said with forced cheer. The woman had better have some good news for him, he thought, because any more bad news was going to turn this day into an absolute nightmare.

The Matriarch turned her gaze on him, a slight smile pulling at her thin lips under her face veil. "Thank you General Landry," she responded in her sandy voice. "I trust that Kessu and Bendi have not been much trouble since I had left?"

The forced smile turned into a real one at the tone the alien woman used. It was just like a parent coming to pick up their children, knowing the runts had been hyped up on sugar before she had left. "Oh, not terrible trouble," Landry responded with the same level of amusement. "If you'll follow the guards to the infirmary? I'm sure you will be eager to see your people again."

Nodding, the Matriarch and her people stepped off the walk way and followed the guards out of the Gateroom. Landry would have liked to have followed them down to the infirmary to find out what choice the Drakin people had made regarding helping them deal with the problem with the Ori and their Priors. Unfortunately the perfectly working machine that was the mountain was still spitting fumes and sparks at him and he couldn't be taken away from those disasters.

An hour later and the heating and cooling system had stopped spewing forth nauseous smells and had started to pump out some heat. Siler was still working on the problem, however, because every once in a while the smell of melting rubber would come back with a blast of cold air. The Lieutenant that had attacked the woman in the change room was being held in the brig until Landry had the time to deal with him. The woman was doing just fine, only a few bumps and bruises and a broken hand from when she'd tried to break the man's jaw.

He had gotten through a considerable amount of the paper work, cutting the towering pile almost in half. The wounded SG team was recovering nicely in the infirmary without life threatening injuries. The mess fire had been cleaned up and was serving lunch right on time – the cooks who had gotten burned had been treated and released with nothing more serious than second degree burns to hands and arms and one face. General Hank Landry's efficient world at the SGC was slowly returning to normal.

With a cup of coffee in hand, Landry was preparing to finish reading and signing off on one more report before he went down to pick up lunch in the mess. Flipping open the file, he shook his head and smirked. It would figure that when there wasn't a dire emergency threatening the welfare of the planet that the mountain would create its own brand of chaos. "General, sir, the Matriarch would like to speak with you," Walter's voice announced from the little speaker on his desk.

Glancing down at the report, Landry sighed, getting the same feeling of the day sitting at a fork in the road. Punching a button the speaker, Landry said, "Send her in then."

"Yes, Sir," Walter's disembodied voice responded.

A moment later and the Matriarch, Bendi, and their escorts entered the small confines of his office. There wasn't enough room for them all in the tiny space that had been sectioned off for the commanding officer's office in the SGC. He'd been tempted a few times to move his office to a different place, but soon realized that his broom closet-sized office was in the perfect location for any kind of emergency.

With the armed escorts tucked into the corners of the room, the Matriarch sitting in the chair across from the desk with Bendi standing just behind her, and Landry sitting behind his desk, there was just enough room for them all. But it was close. "So what can I do for you today, Mother?" Landry asked in the most pleasant voice he could muster. Diplomacy and politics were unfortunately necessary attributes to being the General commanding the SGC.

He watched as she glanced at the others in the room before turning her attention back to him. Her thin shoulders squared and she seemed to sit up straighter. Landry had a vague thought that his own mother would have been proud of a posture like that. "I would prefer to have this conversation with you in private," answered the sandy voice.

With nothing more than the blink of an eye, Landry had considered the possibilities. It was always better to cooperate with visiting dignitaries, but not to the point of sacrificing safety. However, he had already been locked up in his office with this woman before when having a private conversation that had degraded into little more than a shouting match. The rumour mill was still whispering about that one. She was not a very large threat to his personal safety, more a threat to his pride than anything. Bendi did not look very happy with the situation, and this let Landry know that the other Drakin was not invited to this little private chat.

"Of course, Mother," Landry answered, plastering on a smile for her. The two escorts moved towards the door and the Matriarch made a dismissive gesture to Bendi when he bent to speak to her.

When the others had filed out of the room, Landry sat back and waited for the woman to speak. But she seemed to be lost in thought, transfixed by something over and behind his left shoulder. With a casual tone, Landry said, "I hope everything went well for you when you returned home."

This jarred the woman out of her thoughts. She glanced at the door to make sure that it was indeed closed and they were alone. Landry watched as she removed her face veil to reveal the intricate webbing of exposed blood vessels and naked nerve endings tracing over her face and down her neck to disappear under her shirt. The material hung loosely from one side of her head dress, spilling over her shoulder. Landry wouldn't have called her ugly so much as he would have called her face unfinished. There was a kind of eerie beauty to her that he could appreciate even if he couldn't completely understand it.

"I am sure you will understand me when I say that not everything went well for me when I returned to my home, but that many things have worked out for the best," the Matriarch finally answered.

Landry nodded, understanding what she meant. She'd gotten caught in the shit that had hit the fan, but things had turned out the way she had wanted them to regardless of the amount of shit that had hit said fan. But he stayed silent, waiting for her to go on, and he wasn't disappointed. "I called an Assemblage, a gathering of all the Sisters and Brethren, to discuss the request you have made of us. I must say that while we all sympathise with the plight you find yourselves in, we were not all in agreement on what we should do in response."

The woman sighed softly, shaking her head when she paused. "You placed me in a very difficult position with your request. My people had made a promise that we would never engage in any kind of violent action. We would never endanger another life, we would lever bloodshed for any reason."

Landry watched as his day began to veer over to a nightmare as the Matriarch spoke. He jumped in at this point, pointing out, "We have tried to explain to you that the Prior that came through your Stargate will not be the only one that they send. And if they don't send more, they might send in an army to destroy you for killing the first one."

"Yes, I am aware of this fact, General," the Matriarch responded. "I had a very difficult time explaining this fact to my people however. I have spent the last few days attempting to convince them of what might be the proper course of action to take and we have come to a choice.

"We will help you perfect your cure for the plague that these Priors have sent among the people who refuse them. We are healers if we are nothing else and will not allow those lives that we can save to be lost due to our own fear," the woman stated with only a hint of pride in her voice. "But we cannot help you fashion a weapon against the Priors. This would go against everything that we have held dear for many generations and I could not go against the wishes of my people without risking my own safety and the safety of those who matter a great deal to me." She held up her hand when Landry opened his mouth to protest, pushing forward relentlessly. "We will, however, help you perfect the tool you have begun – the one that limits the Prior's mental abilities. This we can help you with."

Landry frowned at her. Leaning back in his seat, trying for a casual interest in what he was about to ask. "And how would you know about the tool that we have been working on? As far as I understand, no one was given clearance to tell you about that."

The Matriarch shook her head again, a slight smile tugging at her thin lips. "You forget, General, that I am able to pick up the surface thoughts of your species. This tool was very prominent in the thoughts of the men in the infirmary. Those thoughts were mixed with memories of what they had encountered on their return through the Stargate, and so I know very little of the device aside from its existence."

Landry considered this new piece of information, one he hadn't really thought about before. The Joint Chiefs would be thrilled with this level of cooperation, even if they wouldn't help them make a weapon. Just helping them increase their odds against the Priors would be enough to make their day. And suddenly his own day wasn't heading for the toilet, but might actually work out alright. "And why won't you help us create a weapon?" Landry asked, mostly to have the answer clearly stated instead of implied.

"Because we will not bend the promise we have made that far, General," the Matriarch stated. "It was difficult enough to gain the cooperation of my people to help you make a tool. It would have been impossible to sway them to that end. They would have sealed the Stargate, abandoning Kessu and damning Bendi and I to a terrible sort of half-life."

Landry felt as though he were being spoken to as though he were little more than an ignorant child. He shoved those thoughts aside, concentrating on the matter at hand. "Alright," he answered and leaned forward. "And just how do you plan to help us 'perfect' the tool we are currently using?"

"The devise uses vibrations and harmonic sounds to interfere with the Prior's mental abilities?" she asked him in her flat sandy voice.

"Yes," Landry answered carefully.

"Some of my people exist in the universe on such a level, General. It is how they see the world around them, how they interact with it," the Matriarch explained. "I am offering you the services of some of my people with this natural ability. We will help you perfect it and then, when it is ready, one of us will allow you to test your devise on us so that you might record the information for further use in whatever project you so choose."

Landry was silent for a moment, going through all she had said. The Matriarch struck him as a woman who as fair and generous, and just like her title might suggest to others, willing to do whatever it took to protect her children. Of course, every parent was hemmed in by their child's own wishes, and the Matriarch was cut short by the wishes of her people. "That's all very generous of you," Landry told her finally.

"Indeed it is, General," she responded in kind. Leaning back in her chair she tilted her head to one side and asked, "Do you accept the terms that I have just given you? Do you accept what we will and will not aid you with?"

This would tickle the Joint Chiefs and the International Committee pink. It might not be exactly what they were looking for, but the possibilities that were being presented would be enough to keep them all happy. The problem was that it wasn't the Joint Chiefs or the International Committee that would have to deal with the aliens. Bendi and Kessu were already driving the medical staff up the walls. But this was the best they were going to get from these people, Landry thought. It was something he would have to take advantage of. Besides, the _Prometheus_ was due to arrive in the Drakin's new home system within the next day or so.

"So far I'm willing to accept what you've said," Landry said. He opened his mouth to continue but didn't get the chance.

"Then we may begin the negotiating the complete terms of this alliance," the Matriarch responded. She smiled brightly, flashing small white teeth. She seemed to be honestly pleased with the outcome of their conversation so far.

**

* * *

L**andry didn't get to have his lunch break as planned. He spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening listening to the very detailed terms that were being lined up before him by the Matriarch while her guard paced about the debriefing room with agitation. With Walter acting as a gofer for meals and personnel it only took a little more than nine hours to get a full agreement fleshed out, typed up, witnessed, and signed. There had been plenty of arguments about certain details, from the number of Drakin's permitted on base at any given time, expedition teams returning to the cavernous moon for research, the sharing of information and what would be considered important information to share, so on and so forth. 

Landry was leaning back in his chair in his office, his eyes closed against the thundering headache that had developed when the negotiations began and had only gotten worse as they continued. But there was a sense of accomplishment filling him. With the help of the Drakin there was a very good possibility that they would be able to make the cure for the Prior's plague work for everyone, not just for a handful. Even more important, they might be able to perfect the tool that Lt. Colonel Carter had spent the last several months working on. If they could get that device to work the way it was meant to work then they shouldn't have near as many problems dealing with the Priors has they had come across thus far.

They would be able to create more of them when it was perfected, maybe even make smaller versions of them so that personnel could wear them when they were off world. In case they didn't meet a Prior at the Gate but had the misfortune to meet one regardless. They could plant the devices around the Stargate of affected worlds and even the worlds that had yet to encounter a Prior, keep them safe. He was sure that there would be a number of serious repercussions for doing this, for even trying this. But it might be worth it if they could get a real fighting chance.

It was nice to be able to hope, for even just a moment, that they might survive this. Then reality began to settle in. When the Priors discovered that they had perfected the cure for their plague they would do something else to the populations of the planets to gain their submission. When the Ori found out about the device they were going to use against the Priors they might start sending their ships, or worse, they might come themselves. Dr. Jackson didn't know if they could count on the help of the Ancients if the Ori did come. They already knew that they weren't going to do a damn thing to stop the Priors now that they were here.

Everything they did might only hold off destruction for a short time, but it would eventually come. And if it didn't come from the Ori than the universe seemed to have an unlimited source of bad guys – the Goa'uld, the Priors, the Ori, the Replicators, even the Wraith in the Pegasus Galaxy were a threat here in the Milky Way if they found a way to travel here. And with the way their luck had been running lately, it seemed more and more plausible by the day.

They didn't have enough intelligence to make even an educated guess about the possibility of the Priors coming with ships. There had been almost constant scouting missions to locate black holes and monitor them. Vala had thwarted their initial attempt to build a beachhead in this galaxy. It didn't mean that they hadn't tried again, didn't mean that they weren't currently trying again. But there was little he could do with the limited information he had. The galaxy was a big place. It wouldn't be difficult to hide a Supergate.

Shoving aside the pessimistic thoughts, Landry decided to focus on the few bright things from today. The heating and cooling system had been exorcised of whatever demon had possessed it and was now happily pumping out unscented, comfortably warm air. The hot water had been restored to the women's change room – ending the time share on the men's shower and change room. The mess had been put back in order and was currently dishing out their same tasteless, nameless food. The SG team that had come in wounded was recovering nicely in the infirmary, as was the woman who had been attacked in the women's change room. The scientists had stopped whining about their broken toy, and his paperwork had magically shrunk while he was locked away negotiating with the Matriarch.

Many of the people working here in the mountain were content with their day, no one was dead, and the Joint Chiefs were nearly dancing a jig with the International Committee when he had delivered the good news. All in all, while the day had started out badly, things had taken a sharp turn for the better. Aside from the Lieutenant currently sitting in the brig, the day might be coined as a very positively successful on.

Landry reached for the phone and dialled one of the numbers he had come to memorize since he had taken command of the SGC. If there was one thing that any commander here needed to know by heart it was the telephone numbers of every SG team member who could be called into work on short notice. SG-1 was one of the four teams that had little to no life outside of the SGC and no family to disturb at odd hours, or ask questions about strange injuries or behaviours.

**

* * *

C**ameron Mitchell was tempted to ignore the telephone when it rang. Nothing good would come from a phone call at nearly ten-thirty at night. But training and experience dictated that if he didn't answer his home phone, whoever was calling would try his cell phone next and when he didn't answer that, they'd send out a search party for him. Life at the SGC was predictably unpredictable with its odd routines and procedures. If there was an emergency at the SGC it would at least give him something to do instead of staring blankly at the white wall of his living room. 

Picking up the phone on the third ring, just before the answering machine could take the call for him, Cameron couldn't help but hope that there would be a female voice answering him when he said, "Hello?" He was both relieved and disappointed when General Landry answered him instead.

"Colonel Mitchell, sorry for the late call, but I'm going to need you and your team to come in. Our visiting dignitaries came back with a favourable answer to our request," Landry told him.

"That's great news, Sir. But may I ask why my team and I need to come in?" Mitchell was curious, and Landry was usually forthcoming with information. The man did not like hidden agendas and didn't see the point in keeping information from his people when they would get it eventually.

"I won't go into details at the moment, but we came to an agreement, took nine bloody hours, but part of that agreement was that you and your team work with them," Landry began. "They are willing to work with the other scientists and with the medical staff, but they want SG-1 to be their liaison between the head of the science departments and Dr. Lam and her medical staff. I'll give you all further details when you get here. Briefing in about an hour, Colonel, call the rest of your team and get them here on time."

With that, Landry hung up the phone without saying goodbye. Cameron hadn't been expecting the small courtesy mostly because he'd heard just how tired the General was. He didn't doubt that it had been a gruelling day for the other man to deal with the Matriarch and whatever the alien woman demanded of them. Of course, the cooperation of SG-1 was a small price to pay to get the help that they needed to get the fighting change that they needed against the Priors and the Ori.

Hanging up the phone, only to pick it back up again, Cameron pushed aside the thought that he would have to see Carolyn when he arrived at the base. It wouldn't do to think about that. He still had to work with her in even a small way. Letting a break-up interfere with his job would be letting her choice get to him. Cameron punched in a telephone number and made himself think about work instead.

**o-o-o-o**

**S**am was been curled up on the couch with a book. It was an easy read book, something she read when she just wanted to escape from work and the world. It wasn't a book she would ever take out into public; she actually hid the small collection of romance novels she had like some sort of guilty pleasure. And they were. She was just getting into the plot and the cookie cutter characters when her telephone rang.

Glancing at the clock, she frowned and tried to think of who would be calling at this time of the night. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that she was being called into the SGC for an emergency. It had happened often enough. Daniel wouldn't call her at this time either unless something was wrong. It might be General O'Neill. He often called at odd hours when he couldn't get a hold of Daniel to bother.

Checking the caller ID she was surprised to see Cameron's number flash across the little screen. Picking up the phone she answered in a somewhat cheerful, slightly concerned voice, "Hey Cam."

"Hi Sam. I just got a call from General Landry asking us back to the base. He apparently came to some sort of agreement with the Matriarch and we were apart of it. We get to act as a go between for our guests and the science and medical staff," Cameron told her. There was a slight bit of excitement in his voice.

Sam couldn't help but smile at that. Cameron had always been excited about his job. "When is the briefing?" Sam asked.

"In a little less than an hour," he told her with an apologetic tone. "I'm going to call Teal'c and Jackson. I'll meet you guys there with coffee."

Setting aside her book, Sam was already swinging her feet off the couch and walking towards her bedroom to get dressed. "Alright, sounds good to me. I'll see if I can swing by the bakery near my place and see if they still have some pastries."

"Great, see you there," and with that, Cameron hung up and so did Sam. She was already pulling on a pair of jeans and a sweat shirt. She could change into her uniform when she got to the base. She didn't bother putting on make-up, it was too late to bother and she just didn't feel like messing with the stuff.

Shrugging on her coat and slipping into her boots, Sam grabbed her keys and headed for her car.

**o-o-o-o**

**V**ala wasn't even sure what had woken her up in the first place. Listening carefully, she waited to hear whatever it was that had awoken her in the first place. It was the muted cry of the telephone that she heard. The cordless hand-held was buried under a pile of clothing on the floor on Daniel's side of the bd. Daniel didn't even twitch when the phone rang again. Wriggling out of Daniel's hold she climbed over him and reached for the phone. She just wanted the sound to stop so she could go back to sleep.

Hitting the talk button, she mumbled, "Hello?" into the mouth piece.

"Vala?" was the slightly surprised, slightly amused response.

"Yes," she answered back, annoyed that whoever was calling found amusement in having woken her up. "Who's this?"

"It's Cam, I –"

"Do you know what time it is?" Vala demanded. "You better have a good reason for calling and disturbing us."

Vala could almost hear the shudder on the other end of the line. She was secretly impressed with the idea of a telephone. It made communicating with people so much easier than attempting to catch them at home or find them on the streets. But it offered very little in the way of allowing her to make judgements about the other person's thoughts. "Look, it's about work. We –"

"Work? Hang on; I'll wake up Daniel so you can talk to him." Vala had already lowered the receiver from her ear and only caught the faint possibility of words, something like _no, don't_. Reaching over she shook Daniel's shoulder, ignoring Cameron's tiny, frantic voice. "Daniel, wake up. Cameron is on the telephone."

Daniel muttered something into his pillow and reached a hand out blindly for the phone. "What?" he grumbled into the receiver when Vala handed it over. He could hear Mitchell's amused chuckle over the line and it made Daniel want to just hang up and go back to sleep. His body ached from moving in the new bed. The movers had just left the thing in the front lobby and they had been forced to drag the thing up four flights of stairs because it wouldn't fit into the elevator.

"Briefing in about forty-five minutes. Landry apparently came to some sort of agreement with the Matriarch, and we were negotiating material" Mitchell announced cheerfully. "I'm bringing coffee and Sam is picking something up from the bakery near her place."

Pushing himself up and out of his pillow Daniel frowned and tried to wake himself up further. "Agreement?"

"Yeah. I don't know a lot of the details and I still need to call Teal'c and get him moving. Just meet me in the parking lot. I'll even pick up the good coffee you like so much," Mitchell bribed.

"'Kay. We'll be there," Daniel said and hung up without saying goodbye. It was a bad habit to have gotten into years ago, but it was one he couldn't really break himself of. He was so used to communicating with a radio instead of a telephone, and you didn't say goodbye every time you signed off with someone.

Flopping on to his back, Daniel closed his eyes for a brief moment. He could feel Vala moving on the bed next him, waiting for him to tell her something about the conversation he'd just had.

Sighing softly Daniel opened his eyes and rolled his head to look over at Vala. "We're being called back to the SGC. We've got a meeting with Landry and probably the Matriarch about whatever agreement they came up with," Daniel told her in a sleep rough voice.

"When?" Vala asked, moving to stretch out next to him.

Daniel closed his eyes again and just enjoyed the warm press of her body next to his. It had nothing to do with sex, and everything to do with simple comfort. But there was still the hint of the possibilities around the edges. Like it would take very little to create a mood conductive to erotic play. "In about forty or so minutes," he answered finally.

Vala sighed against his shoulder. "So much for going back to sleep," she muttered before sitting back up in bed and shoving at Daniel to get up. "Go start your coffee brewing. I'll get the shower ready for us."

**o-o-o-o**

**T**eal'c was standing in the kitchen of his relatively new apartment when the telephone rang. Reaching for the device he automatically turned away from the closed door of the bathroom where the shower was currently running. "Hello?" Teal'c spoke into the phone.

"Hey, Teal'c, it's Cam. Sorry about the late call," Colonel Mitchell responded. "I just got a call from Landry calling us all back in for a briefing in about forty minutes."

Teal'c blinked at his refrigerator at that. "Has there been some sort of emergency, Colonel Mitchell?"

"Not that I know of," the other man said. "Landry and the Matriarch came to some sort of agreement and we apparently were part of that agreement."

Nodding before he remembered that he could not be seen, Teal'c asked, "And the briefing will take place in approximately forty minutes?"

"Yeah. Look, I'm going to be running out to pick up some coffee. Sam's gone to see if she can pick something from the bakery near her place. I'll pick you up in about fifteen minutes, alright?"

"Indeed, Colonel Mitchell. I will be waiting for you," Teal'c told him before hanging up the phone.

Turning back to face the closed door of the bathroom, Teal'c sighed softly with some regret that he was being called back in. It was the first time in nearly two weeks that they had been able to get down-time at the same time and they had made plans to enjoy the freedom together. But working with the SGC was an honour that he could never regret, even when it pulled him away from spending time with his lover.

He heard the water shut off and a moment later the door opened to reveal a woman wrapped in a large white towel, water still beading on her skin. "Who was that?"

"It was Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c told her as he approached the bathroom. "We are being called back to the mountain for a briefing. Colonel Mitchell will arrive soon to pick me up."

The woman frowned up to him a little before asking, "Has my cell phone gone off?"

"No," Teal'c answered. "There is no emergency currently taking place." Leaning down he brushed a soft, slow kiss against her full lips. "I will return as soon as I am able to."


End file.
